Anthem Of Our Dying Day
by Copperpelt
Summary: Six years after the outbreak of a virus that turns people into the living corpses, Shun and Alice have enjoyed their new-found lives on Vestal, even if none of their friends from Earth survived. But now, the source of the entire destruction of the human race has infected Vestal. So, will Shun and Alice survive? Title based off the Story Of The Year title. ZOMBIE SEQUEL! R&R PLZ!
1. Outbreak

_Earlier…._

_Shun_

In the bed beside me, I felt Alice jolt awake. Startled as well, I sat up and saw that she had brought her knees up to her chest and tears flowed freely from her eyes. She then turned to me and buried her face into my chest. I didn't have to ask her what was wrong; I already knew.

One too many nights one of us had been woken by the horrible nightmares that plagued us since we left Earth six years ago. The dreams kept on replaying the atrocious events that happened to us when the virus had been released and allowed to tear apart what was once our home.

As far as I knew, it had only been me and Alice that escaped the virus' clutches, but just barely. It had taken all of the others right before our eyes; Julie, Runo, Murucho, and Dan. I was gently stroking Alice's soft, orange curls. "It's okay. It was just that dream again. You're safe," I crooned softly so she would calm down.

Her shoulders trembled as she tried to suppress her sobs. "I miss them….I miss them so much," she said with a small sob. It pained me to see her like this. Even though we had left that virus behind a long time ago, there were still times that neither one of us felt safe.

The outbreak had changed us. It had made us more cautious, and less trustworthy of some people around us. In the end, it felt like only Alice and I could trust each other. "I miss them too….," I said while trying to hold back my own tears. I hadn't realized that Alice had fallen back asleep while I was holding her.

Carefully, I laid her back down without disturbing her, and walked over to the bedroom window. Dawn was starting to peek over the horizon, bringing with it a brand new day. Each day was a blessing for us. It was proof of the fact that we had survived being eaten by people that had once been alive, and turned into a monster by the virus.

Up in the sky, were the flying cars that the Vestals had created through years of advanced research; the crowning achievement that nobody on Earth would even see. It bothered me when I thought about all of the things that life back on our own planet, would never get to see again.

To know that your entire home, and all that you knew and held close, was gone, dead to the world and everything else, bothered me. Why had we been forsaken by such a horrible thing? That question often found its way back into my thoughts.

A monster had created monster's virus, and how anybody with so much as a sliver of humanity could do that, was far beyond me. I sighed and left the window, then snaked my way downstairs; there was no way I would be able to fall asleep now.

I sat down at the computer and checked the day's headlines and weather. It said that it would be a lovely day, one that wasn't too warm and not too cold. Perfect weather. After an hour or so, Alice stepped down the stairs, a yawn escaping her mouth.

"I'm sorry if I woke you, Shun," she said with a hint of guilt. Smiling, I told her that it wasn't a problem. One good thing came out of all the bad that had happened to us; it brought Alice and I closer together. She took my hand in hers and asked, "So, do you have to work today?"

I thought for a moment, mentally going over this week's schedule. "I don't believe I do. Why? Did you have something in mind?" Alice released my hands and went into the kitchen, where she poured herself a glass of water from the sink.

"I was kind of wanting to go out for some fresh air today. Maybe the park?" she suggested before taking a sip of her water. And yet, there was another change that the end of our world brought with it. Almost ninety percent of the time Alice wanted to leave the house, she refused to do so on her own.

Whether she owned up to it or not, she was terrified that she would be chased down by the flesh-craving monsters of the virus. And no matter how many times I told her that it was all behind us, she always said she knew and just wanted to be careful.

I smiled and said kindly, "The park sounds like a great idea." This, in turn, brought a smile upon her pale features. She walked upstairs to get ready for the day's outing while I waited for her by the door. Soon, she joined my side and I escorted her outside. The brisk air greeted us, and I knew that the weather forecast was correct; it was going to be a perfect day.

_Now….._

_Shun_

Minutes….No, seconds….How could so much go wrong in seconds? I tightly gripped Alice's hand in mine, dragging her along behind me. Not far from us, we were being pursued. Theirs hands were extended out, trying to catch us beneath their rotten fingers, and drool leaking down their chins with the sight of food.

All around us, Vestal had caught fire in the chaos. The flying cars that had once soared high above our heads, now laid in mangled heaps of burning metal. I then noticed that Alice's pace was starting to slow, and I turned my head to look at her. "Don't slow down! Keep running!" I shouted at her.

Her eyes then flashed at me, and I saw that the realization was starting to hit her; it was happening again. "You can't give up now, Alice! We made it once, and we'll make it again," I told her. My words must have been reassuring to her, for her pace quickened back up.

Up ahead, I caught sight of a pile of cars that had stopped burning. There was a small gap under the heap, and I dove for it, Alice's hand still in mine. We crawled beneath the wreckage, pressing our backs against another car.

Through our little opening, I saw as the zombies ran on by, still thinking that they were after us. Both of us sat there, panting heavily from the run. It was then that I noticed my hands were trembling, along with the rest of my body. _How? How did he survive?_

Images of the man that had released this virus on Earth, danced in my mind. He had created it, let it run rampant without a cure, and had the gall to use innocent survivors as guinea pigs. I had been one of those experiments, and the only person that had survived the onslaught of antidote injections.

I probably should have considered myself lucky, seeing that they perfected the formula when they got to me, but I didn't. There had been almost three-hundred poor souls before me that had suffered under the effects of the antidote. But that didn't matter now.

This man, this horrible and sadistic man, had somehow survived when his co-workers were turned into zombies and attacked the facility, and now, he had turned the virus loose on Vestal. The only difference was that this version was airborne. He had dropped a vial on the ground, causing the glass container to shatter and the liquid inside to spread on the ground.

Then, people around us started to grow pale, and they dropped like flies. And not a moment after that, they came back to life, seeking an unsatisfied craving for human flesh. What truly scared me though, was the possibility that Alice and I could have been infected.

We had been within yards of the released virus, almost ensuring that we had it. Although, neither one of us were showing any signs of ailing, and we would have died long ago like the others before us. Perhaps there was a chance we had gotten lucky. I looked over at Alice, wondering if her immunity might have kept her from getting infected this time.

Back on Earth, when the virus was first released, Alice had been bitten by one of the zombies, and all of us were positive that she was going to die. But she never did, and that was how we found out she was immune. The question was, was she lucky enough to be safe from this new strand?

Alice was crying heavily into the palms of her hands. I brought her close to me and whispered, "Shh, keep quiet. Please. You don't want to attract any of those things." She wiped tears away with a shaky hand and tried to keep her sobs silent. I tilted my head back, staring up at one of the cars that now made up our place of safety, and let out a heavy breath.

Just as I did that, a zombie stuck the upper half of its body into the entrance of our domain. Alice shrieked next to my ears, leaving them ringing. The zombie's hands clawed at us as he tried to pull himself further into the car cave. Alice and I were pushing ourselves away from the monster as much as we could, but we soon realized that there was nowhere we could go; we were trapped.

With each second, the zombie was working his way closer towards us. His outstretched hand then latched onto Alice's ankle, making her eyes widen to their fullest extent. She screamed and started kicking her free leg, and one of the kicks caught the flesh-eating monstrosity in the face.

He let go of her, then continued his pursuit of us. Seeing that we didn't have that much time before he finally joined us in this place, I started to try and push one of the cars over, hoping to break down the walls that had imprisoned us. They weren't even so much as budging.

It was clear that neither one of us was getting out that way. My eyes then fell on one of the cars' windshields, and began to kick at the glass with as much strength as I could manage in such a tight space. "Shun! Hurry!" Alice shouted and kicked at the starving monster once again. At last, I broke the windshield and picked up a large shard of glass.

Taking it into my hands, I rammed the jagged object into the decaying eye of the zombie. It gurgled, then fell motionless, the glass still jutting out of the eye socket. Suddenly, I was reminded of a grisly image. It was of when I had to kill Julie after she was infected.

I had stuck the blade of a katana sword through her eye and into her brain, but I had no choice. She would have eaten us all if I hadn't done something.

After that, killing these creatures had become a lot easier; I had realized they weren't human, and cared not for any other life. Their only instinct was to eat…And eat….And eat. I then grabbed Alice's hand, causing her to jump at the touch. When she saw it was me, I felt her loosen up some.

I then led her through the broken windshield of the car, climbing over the charred remains of whoever had been driving this vehicle, and out the passenger door. I was the first one out, looking around for any unwelcome guests, then whispered to Alice that the coast was clear.

She cautiously climbed out, and I helped her down onto the sidewalk below. Then, I turned to her, my hands resting on top of her shoulders, and eyes locked on hers with the most serious look I could give her. "You have to stay near me, okay? Please, stay near me. Don't leave my side unless I say so."

I had fought to the end to protect her the first time, and I would do the same this time as well. She met my gaze through teary eyes and nodded. My eyes then caught sight of a metal pipe that had fallen off from one of the burning buildings nearby.

Seeing that it was as good as a weapon was going to get for now, I picked it up in one hand, and held Alice's in the other. Both of us faced down the burning streets of Vestal, taking in the sounds of screaming people as they were either consumed in flames or eaten. Then, we ran.

* * *

_Story title based off the song Anthem Of Our Dying Day. _-sings- From up here, the city lights burn, like a thousand miles of fire, and i'm here to sing this Anthem Of Our Dying Day! X3 actually, that title didnt win the poll. a tie decided to show up between two titles -.-'''''''''''''''' (very many annoyed line things). so, i flipped a coin and whichever won two out of three, would be the title and TA-DA! so at last, the long awaited zombie sequel has made its debut! -pops cork on sparkling cider- celebration time! i shall have the link to this song and the full cover poster soon. or you can look up the song if you so desire. read, review, and other things! ~Copperpelt~


	2. Temporary Home

_Shun_

It hadn't taken me long to come up with a location that may have been safe. As I ran and pulled Alice along behind me, I retraced my steps to where this safe place was. My heart was racing faster than it ever had before, and I knew Alice had to have been the same way.

Behind us, more zombies were pursuing us and showed no signs of stopping until they got their rotten hands on us. Up ahead, I saw a stray zombie stumbling around. It turned its head to look at us. It then opened its mouth up, letting out a wail, and charged at Alice and I.

I gripped the pipe tightly in my hand, and as we ran past the monster, I swung the piece of metal with all the force I could manage. The bones in the zombie's skull crunched from the impact, and he fell down to the ground, where he was trampled by the other creatures that wished to taste us.

I then took a sharp turn onto an adjacent street. The sudden turn had put a bit more distance between us and the zombies, but not much. Then, our destination came into my sight. It looked like any other building on this stretch of road, but the rundown steel door held a secret inside. I ran up to the door and beat on the cold metal with my hand.

"Hello! Is anyone in there! Let us in!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. Alice had pressed herself against me and was watching as the lumbering monsters neared us. Seeing that there wasn't that much time, I kept knocking on the door and shouting.

If there was nobody inside, and no hope for us to get inside, then Alice and I would have no choice but to keep on running. Shelter was a top priority as we had previously learned from the first outbreak; although, if it was not adequate enough, then it could have been the end of those inside.

The door then opened slightly, and a gray eye looked through the gap at us. "Are you two infected?" he asked. My anger began to rise. "Just let us in! Those things are coming for us!" I shouted. How dare he even question whether or not Alice and I were infected?

If we had even been infected, then we surely would have ended our own lives before the virus could. The door then opened up, and I pulled Alice inside. The moment our bodies passed through the threshold, the steel door slammed shut. Alice and I both sat on the ground, panting and trying to stabilize our irregular breathing.

I then looked up at a certain mint-haired friend. "Could you have waited any long to get to that door?" I asked through gasps for air. Ace crossed his arms over his chest and shrugged his shoulders. "Had to make sure you weren't one of those things. Safety of the group first."

I looked around and saw that Mira, Baron, and Keith had also made their ways to this bunker. Finally feeling like I had caught my breath, I stood up and brushed myself off. "Glad to see all of you guys made it here though," I told them while I helped Alice up to her feet.

Ace locked the steel door and said, "Well, we all agreed a long time ago that if something were to happen here on Vestal, we'd meet up here." This whole entire complex was built long before Zenoheld's reign over Vestal, and was a bunker for anything that the world could throw at it; including zombies.

_Hopefully._ Baron was huddled up in a corner, face buried into his knees and limbs trembling. He was acting almost the same way when Alice and I told him about what had happened back on Earth. _I can't even imagine what this must feel like for him. _Hearing about the horrors was one thing, but living them was a totally different beast.

Alice gazed at Baron, pity and sympathy for him in her eyes. She then walked over to him and began to try and comfort him. It seemed to work a little bit, but not much. Ace's eyes were still examining over Alice and I. Keith noticed this and sighed.

"They aren't infected, Ace. If they were, they would have died a long time ago from exposure to the virus while it was airborne," he said calmly. His words caught my attention and I asked, "While it was airborne? You mean, it's not floating around out there anymore?"

I was confused how Keith may have known this; considering he even did know. He opened his eyes back up and gave me a nod. "Yes. You see, when the first signs of the virus showed up, I wanted to learn more and started to grab samples and took my equipment with me before coming here. After a bit of analysis while hiding out here, I noticed that after an hour or so, the structure of the virus mutated; it was the structure that controlled how the illness is transmitted. I then realized that the transmission through the air, was only to get the virus out there. Now, it is only acquired through bodily contact with things such as blood or the saliva."

I added, "In other words, through a bite." Keith nodded. The way he had looked at this virus and learned from it, reminded me of Murucho. If he could have gotten the chance, I was sure that Murucho would have wanted to experiment on the virus and try to find a way to combat it.

_But he didn't get that chance. _I turned my attention back over to Baron and Alice. The pink-haired boy had a slight smile on his face now as he spoke to Alice; only she was able to console somebody in these kinds of situations. I made my way over to one of the dusty, old couches that rested in the middle of the room.

A small cloud of dust rose up into the air when I sat down, and I bent over and ran a hand through my hair, finally allowing all of this to sink in. It really was happening again, all of it. Mira exchanged glances between Alice and I before saying, "Well, please do make yourselves comfortable here….We're certainly going to be here for a while."

_Shun_

Perhaps it was both a blessing and a curse that this bunker had showers. The only drawback, was that the water was from somewhere underground, leaving the liquid with a faint discoloration. But beggars couldn't be choosers now; we had to take what was given to us and deal with it.

The bunker, being that it was designed for extended stays during a time of crisis, had all of the necessities for the people that would inhabit it. Although, most of it was far outdated and rundown from not being used in the years after its creation; and even by Vestal standards, most of this was seriously outdated equipment.

But the lights worked, along with the heater, and there was running water. _I think we'll make due._ I ran the groundwater over my hair to wash away the day's events. Stepping out of the lukewarm shower, I dried off and stepped into the same clothes that I had been wearing when Alice and I ran from the park.

They were stained with the blood of the zombie I killed back in the streets, along with charred car remains; it didn't even feel like I had just gotten a shower thanks to the grime and filth that covered my clothes. I was about to step out of the bathroom when I felt a sudden wave of nausea hit my stomach.

Before I knew what was happening, I found myself throwing up into the toilet. Once I was sure I was done, I leaned back against the cabinets and took in deep breaths. I attributed the bout of sickness as today catching up with me; the reality that had attached itself to me once again after six years, would have been enough to even make the strongest of people sick to their stomachs.

It also could have been because of the fact that I wasn't as in shape as I had been six years ago, and all of the running and stress finally hit me. Regardless of whatever the reason was, I stood up and left the bathroom. In a room down a short hallway, was where everyone was staying.

It was about twenty foot by twenty foot, and six camping cots were unfolded and set up around the room. One small window near the roof, allowed a bit of light into the dark, concrete space. Alice was sitting on one of the cots, playing with the ends of her hair; an act that she did whenever nervous or anxious.

She then looked up and saw me. A smile then graced her features, and she patted the cot the sat next to her. "Saved you a spot," she told me. I smiled and sat on the cot beside her. She then looked closely at me and asked, "Are you okay?" I laid down on my back and said calmly, "Yeah. I'm tired, is all."

Alice's expression turned grave. "No. I meant….Are you okay…..With what's happening?…..Like, how are you handling it?" I propped myself up with my elbows and stared at her, caught off guard by her question. Then, I thought for a moment before answering with, "I don't know how I'm taking all of this right now. Of course I'm scared and furious that after we fought so hard to live, we have to face this all over again."

Alice then laid down on her side, facing me, and closed her eyes. "Yeah. Me too," she said with a sigh and reopened her brown orbs. They stared up at the gray ceiling above us, but they told me that she was seeing something else. The way they sparkled, made me realize that she was reminiscing on some part of the past; a better time, most likely.

I then took her petite hand into mine and looked at her with same serious expression that I had back in the streets when I told her not to leave my side unless I said otherwise. "Hey, don't worry. I'm going to keep you safe, just like last time. I promise." She turned her head to the side so she could face me.

"I believe you, Shun," she said with a faint smile. Her eyes then appeared to be growing heavy, and she drifted off to sleep. I followed her shortly after.

_Alice_

My eyes opened in the dark room, and for a moment, I thought it had all been another bad dream. But when I sat up and saw Shun next to me, and our Vestal friends sleeping in cots, I knew that I had not been fortunate to have thought it all up in my sleep. I looked over at Shun, who was sleeping soundly beside me, and smiled sadly.

I knew his promise earlier had been true, but I still had my doubts. There was hundred, maybe even thousands of flesh-seeking monsters out there. What if Shun wasn't able to keep me safe, or himself for that matter?

He wasn't exactly in the same shape he had been six years ago since he had stopped his ninja training a while back; during the first outbreak, he had been in top condition. Through the darkness of the room, I noticed that he was sweating. It was rather hot in the room, and the sleeping bags weren't helping to add to the warmth.

Carefully, I pulled his sleeping bag back some so he might be able to cool down a bit. Then, I slipped out of my cot and quietly tip-toed out of the room. Now, I was back in the main part of the bunker. Through two of the small windows up near the top of the ceiling, light filtered through from the two moons of Vestal.

It illuminated the dust and dirt that floated through the air happily, making it look like they had no care in the world. I then walked over to the windows and grabbed a chair to stand on in order to see out of the window. Cautiously looking through the glass that had been fogged over with years of dirt, I was able to just barely see the other side.

Outside, there were feet shuffling by. I flinched and almost jumped down, then remembered that they could not get to me. Taking this opportunity, I watched as a hoard of zombies passed by without even so much as even knowing I was right below them.

This had been the closest I had been to one, without running the risk of being eaten, that is. One of them then stumbled onto the ground in front of the window. It was about to get up, then paused before crawling up to the window. My heart was racing as the zombie looked through the dirty glass.

For a moment, I could have sworn that it was looking right at me. It tapped the glass with its black fingers, then stood up and continued to follow the flow of its hoard. I stepped off of the chair and hurried back to the bedroom, where I quietly snuck back into my cot and laid there, unable to fall back asleep for the rest of the night.

* * *

aye, i had to be up at my school at 7:30 -dies- i am NOT a morning person, AT ALL! so, read, review, and other thind while i take my grumpy self to bed. ~Copperpelt~


	3. Remember The Fallen

_Shun_

I woke feeling more exhausted than I had when I went to bed the night before, even though I had slept fairly well, despite what I knew was going on outside.

Sitting up in my cot, I looked around the room and saw that I was the only one still there. When I listened closely, I heard conversations taking place in the main room of the bunker. There was also the faint aroma of food floating through the air. My stomach growled, expression its hunger and want of food.

Deciding not to go against its wishes any longer, I climbed out of the cot and joined the rest of the group. They were sitting around, each of them holding a bowl of something with steam rising from above. When I got a little closer, I saw that it was a soup or broth.

Alice set her dish in her lap and looked at me when she realized my presence in the room. She smiled faintly and said, "There's some left if you want some." Dark circles were wrapped around her eyes, dragging down their once lively appearance. I nodded and went to get my helping, then took my seat beside her.

Oddly enough, I was reminded of the days back when all of us would be at Murucho's and sitting down at the table to eat. Why was it now that I was remembering those little things? Was it because the thing that had taken them from us had made an unexpected return? Probably.

I sipped a bit of the liquid, realizing it was a chicken broth that had been heated up. Regardless, it was something substantial that was going into my stomach, and I needed it after getting sick last night. I finished off the last of the broth, enjoying the warming effect it gave me as it made its way down to my stomach.

Mira stood up from the couch across from us, holding several bowls in her hands. She extended one of her gloved hands out to me and asked, "Are you finished?" I nodded and let her take the bowl back to the small kitchen. I then leaned over and quietly asked Alice, "Are you alright?"

Seeing the dark circles underneath her eyes made me worry that she may have been feeling the effects of the virus. She smiled at me, true and genuine. "Yeah, I didn't get much sleep last night. Well….More like none, but I'm fine. I promise." I believed what she told me, and left it at that. Baron sat on a couch beside us, all by himself.

He let his hands and arms rest limply between his knees, and he kept his eyes fixed on the concrete floor. "So, what are we going to do?" he asked, not really directing his question to anyone. Mira looked at him with worry. "Wait this thing out, I guess," she said gently.

Baron was, from what Alice had told me, an unstable wreck right now. Out of the six of us, he was suffering the most emotional trauma of us all, it seemed. I leaned back against the couch and folded my arms over my chest. "Sorry to break the news to you guys, but there isn't such a thing as 'waiting' this thing out. It's here to stay until there's nothing left for it to kill," I said grimly.

Baron's eyes filled to the brim with tears for a moment before they started to spill over like somebody had opened the flood gates. He then hurried into another room, where I knew he was probably going to cry until his heart's content.

Maybe six years ago, I would have done the same thing. In fact, I had. But I had been through this once, and it had turned me into steel because of it. Ace cut me a harsh look and said, "You couldn't have been a bit more nice with your choice of words, could ya?"

I blinked in surprise at the hostility in his voice. Keith, standing behind the couch Ace was sitting on, said calmly, "Go easy on him, Ace. He doesn't know what happened to Baron." Alice and I bother exchanged a look with each other, then turned back to the spiky, blonde-haired man.

"What happened?" she asked. Mira craned her neck and looked down the hallway that Baron had run down to make sure he wasn't around to hear what she was about to say, then turned back to face us. "Baron's entire family was attacked and killed by those things outside."

Ace crossed his arms over his chest and added, "Yeah, and if we hadn't run over there to make sure he was alright and bring him to this bunker, then Baron would have probably stayed there at his house and let himself get torn to shreds as well."

Knowing this, I felt horrible for what I had said a moment ago, but I had no idea until just now. Although, it maid a bit more sense as to why Baron was such an emotional wreck; it wasn't just because the world around him was wasting away, but it was because his world had been taken away from him suddenly and in the most savage way that fate could think of.

"I'm sorry," I said truthfully. "If I had known then I would have kept my mouth shut." Mira smiled sadly and told me, "It's alright, Shun. If anything, it's our fault for not telling you guys." After an hour or so, Baron emerged from his hiding place and joined us back at the couches.

His eyes were pink and puffy from where he had been crying, which only added to the guilt I was feeling. A part of me wanted to apologize to him, but I knew if I brought up what happened to him, he would only run off and go back to crying; and I didn't want to see that again.

How hard was it to watch your family be eaten alive, though? I had only seen my close friends suffer, but not the last family I had; my grandfather. He had been away when the virus broke loose, so I had no idea of when he may have been infected or died.

I had a gut feeling, though, that he had lasted a good amount of time against the zombies. But even he wouldn't be able to handle himself against a massive hoard like what had chased Alice and I. Nonetheless, that was six years ago, and the old man didn't have that many years left anyway.

In the silence that befell the room, we heard a scratching on the steel door. Keith narrowed his eyes and says, "One of them knows we're in here." There was no danger of a single zombie breaking through that door, much less a hoard. "Why's it matter? It's not like it can break through," I said to him.

Keith walked over to the small pile of weapons in the corner of the room, and took a crossbow from the inventory. He loaded an arrow into the weapon and said, "That's not the case, though. When one knows somebody's in here, then others will catch on as well. Then, we'll have a whole mess of them out there, and we will be unable to leave the bunker if we ever had to. We all realized that really quick once the virus broke out and people started to run for cover."

I understood where he was coming from. It would be like back at Murucho's when we all had been trapped in his mansion, a sea of living dead shuffling around outside and trying to break in to eat the few survivors we had. It was also smart thinking on Keith's part to plan ahead and go through any possible scenario. He then took the crossbow and lowered down a ladder from the ceiling.

He stepped up it rung by rung until he vanished to the floor above us. The scratching at the door then ceased. Shortly after, he came back down and put the ladder back up.

"There. Taken care of," he said calmly. I started to wonder if Keith might have been seen from up on the roof of the bunker, but figured that if he had planned ahead for something like this, then he surely was smart enough to stay low when killing a zombie from above; last thing we needed was somebody messing up and advertising that there was fresh meat inside this tiny space.

Keith put the crossbow back in the weapon pile and went on about his business. I leaned back against the couch and rested my head in the palm of my hand. I could feel a headache trying to plague me, but I would rather have that than the disease that was running rampant outside.

Alice must have picked up on my discomfort, for her tired eyes had turned to me and were filled with worry. Before she could even ask if something was wrong or if I was alright, I told her, "Headache. Nothing to be worried about."

And for good measure, I added in a slight smile; this always seemed to calm Alice's worries, even in the darkest of her hours. She nodded and said to me, "Then you might want to go ahead and sleep it off." I shrugged and told her, "Maybe."

But on the inside, I was craving to go back to sleep. It seemed like I had only gotten more tired since waking up, almost like my energy was being sapped away. By the look Alice was giving me though, she was about to insist that I go and lay down.

I had a pretty good idea why she was being so concerned; she wanted to make sure that I wasn't turning into a carnivorous monster like those that were outside. I sighed and told her, "Alright, I'll go and lay down for a bit." She grinned, realizing that she had won without even so much as saying a word.

I stood up from the couch, and felt a slight dizziness come over me. It wasn't enough to make me wobble or anything, but it did make me stand there for a second while everything came back into focus. _Must've stood up too quickly, _I thought to myself and walked off towards the sleeping quarters.

_Alice_

Shun had taken my advice and gone to lay down before his headache got the better of him. Normally, I may have been a bit more concerned about whether or not he was infected, but Keith had proved that the virus was no longer transmitted through the air, and if we had been infected, Shun and I would have been gone a long time ago.

Plus, I was still clinging onto the fact that Shun had been injected with an antidote during the initial outbreak of the virus; the thought that it might not work on this latest strain, didn't occur to me. As Shun walked out of the main room and down the hall, I noticed Ace's cold, gray eyes followed him until he was out of sight.

It seemed like ever since Shun and I arrived here after being chased by a hoard, Ace had been rather apprehensive about the whole thing. I understood if he was worried that we had the virus, but neither one of us were showing any signs of turning into a zombie.

But there was the little fact that Ace and Shun had never really gotten along all that well. Although, I felt that personal issues had nothing to do with anything here; it was strictly limited to the safety of the group, as Ace had said earlier yesterday.

To my right, Baron groaned, "Is there any of that soup stuff left? I'm starving." The way Baron complained about his hunger, brought the memories of Dan back to my thoughts. A pang of sadness struck me at the thought of my dear friend that had been lost a long time ago.

Out of all of our group, it was hard to decide who had suffered the most gruesome death; Murucho, or Dan. Keith told Baron, "There's none left. I only made enough for the six of us to have one bowl. You know how limited our food is, Baron." I didn't pay any mind to what they were saying now that I had started to think back to those horrible days.

Murucho's death occurred while we were trying to reach his mansion in order to get to his jet so we could fly to Moscow and use my grandfather's teleported. We had been in the sewage tunnels underneath the city, running from Runo, who had recently been infected and died.

While we weren't paying attention, she had gotten a hold of Murucho and eaten him alive, not even leaving enough of him left to come back to life. It had been a horrible sight to see somebody that was once our friend, eating their friend in turn. But Dan had gone down at the last minute.

Shun, Dan, and I had been the only ones to make it to the jet; a hoard of zombies had invaded the mansion below us. And just as the jet was taking off and Dan was climbing in, the hoard made it to the roof and one of the zombies had gotten a hold of his leg.

The moments after that had been heart wrenching, especially when Dan had demanded that Shun let him go and fall into the waiting mass of zombies below. I remembered how reluctant Shun had been to release the hand of his best friend and let him fall to a certain death, but he had no choice; Dan was as good as dead, and he knew it.

So, Shun had let go, and Dan fell. After that, we had thrown a lighter down onto the roof, which we had soaked with gasoline as part of Shun's plan to kill a few of the creatures. In the fire, the zombies had burned, along with whatever may have been left of Dan.

Just thinking about the memory almost brought tears to my eyes, but I didn't want the others to see; I wanted to show them that I was strong enough to handle all of this again, and that I wasn't dwelling on what happened in the past.

* * *

yup, i brought up that old memory just to refresh some things. there probably won't be an upload tomorrow (band practice after school). and friday is iffy as well. (more band practice) and there DEFINITELY won't be one saturday cause i have to go to marching contests (wish us luck that we get all superior!). read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	4. Sweet Dreams

_Shun_

Sometime after I retreated to the bunker's sleeping quarters, I had fallen asleep, and almost immediately drifted off into a dream. It started off like any other dream; I was walking down the streets of Vestal, the sky shining a peaceful, light blue. The air was crisp and clean, making it feel like a perfect day to be out and enjoying the weather.

_Then, why can't I shake the feeling that something's wrong here? _It was just a nice day; nothing strange about that, right? I looked around the city, and began to realize that there was nobody else outside with me. Usually, the streets and sky above were filled with people and flying cars.

But everything was desolate and empty. Still not knowing what was going on, I quickened up my pace and hurried to the house that I lived in with Alice. If she was in there, then maybe she knew what was going on. As I ran, I kept looking up and into the windows of buildings, hoping to catch a glimpse of any signs of life.

In one window, I caught sight of a curtain move, and a dark figure run by it inside. I stopped for a moment, then continued on my way. The further I got into the city, the once air-borne cars started to litter the streets, fire blazing wildly around them from where the fuel combusted.

What was going on? Did everyone just disappear off the face of the planet? I reached my house and turned the knob, surprised to find it locked. _Alice hardly ever locks the door, _I thought to myself and furrowed my brows in aggravation.

Realizing that I'd need a key, I ran my hand across the top of the door, feeling for the key; it wasn't up there. Annoyed now, I started to knock on the door. "Alice! Are you in there? Open the door! It's me!" I shouted loud enough for here to hear if she was inside.

Nobody came to the door, and I knocked again, repeating what I had just shouted a moment ago. I waited for a moment to see if she'd answer this time. In the surrounding silence of the abandoned streets, I heard something from the other side of the door.

It was a soft sound, soft enough that there would have been no way for me to even hear it over my own thoughts, much less the knocking on the door and shouting I was doing. I pressed my ear against the door, straining my hearing to the best extent to hear what the sound was.

Quickly, I recognized it as Alice, and it sounded like she was whimpering. Thoughts raced through my mind. Was she hurt? With that scenario in my thoughts, I grabbed the doorknob and rammed my shoulder into the door, breaking the lock and causing the door to fly open.

"Alice?" I asked and started to look around. The entire first floor of the house was empty, but it wasn't left how it was. Tables and chairs were thrown around in a disorganized mess; the clear signs of a struggle. My heart began to speed up, and I was growing my worried by the minute.

Had somebody broken into the house and tried to hurt her? Her whimpering brought me out of my paranoid thoughts. The sounds were coming from upstairs, and I quickly ran up them, two at a time. "Alice?" I asked and started to look in each room I passed.

She wasn't in any of them I checked, and the only one that was left was our room. The door was slightly ajar, and as I neared it, the whimpering grew louder. With a shaky hand, I cautiously pushed open the door, creaking a bit as I did so. With the site before me, my eyes widened.

Alice was pinned down on the floor, blood covering every possible place on her. Kneeling beside her with its face buried into her side, was a grotesque man. His skin was ashen black, blood matting his hair and portions of his flesh missing. It then occurred to me that this man was eating Alice.

A gasp was all that could escape my lips, and with that, the man looked up at me. His eyes were puffy and solid white. He tilted his head side to side, as if examining me, while Alice's blood dripped down from his lips and chin. It then snarled, showing its discolored teeth, and charged at me.

I snapped out of my daze and pulled the door closed, then began to run back down the hall to get away. Behind me, the creature barreled through the door, sending shards of wood splinters flying through the air. I was at the base of the staircase when my pursuer started to descend after me, growling and snarling as he stumbled down the steps.

In my panic, I had slipped into the kitchen and hid underneath the sink, a knife held in my hands as a means of defense if the time ever came. Outside of the cabinet I was hidden in, I heard the thing's feet shuffling around on the tile floor.

They then stopped, and I heard something like him sniffing the air. Cautiously and with trembling hands, I pushed the cabinet open just enough for me to see through the sliver of the opening. He was nowhere to be seen. "Huh?" I said quietly under my breath with confusion.

That was all that the creature needed to hear, cause the cabinet door was slammed into, taking away my only window into the world that I had made. I could hear the thing clawing at the small door, trying with all his might to get to me inside. I pressed myself against the back of the cabinet, trembling and holding the knife tightly in my hands.

In the center of the door, the only thing that stood between me at that monster, a saw a small circle of light pop up; he had almost clawed his entire way through the door. I shut my eyes tightly and turned my head away. How could this be happening?

A hand then burst through the tiny hole that had been made, sending an explosion of wood splinters like that of the bedroom door upstairs. The arm of the creature then began to feel around for me. There wasn't much room for me to move around, so I was unable to put reasonable distance between and my attacker.

I then felt its hand latch onto my ankle, and it dug its nails into my flesh, all the way down to the bone. I screamed out in pain and fear, then kicked my leg, causing it to let go. He retracted his arm out of the opening he had made.

The creature then peered into the hole, its eyes sparkling at the sight of another meal, and drool leaking from its mouth with the thought of fresh meat. I stared at it in horror as it tried to bit its way through the destroyed cabinet door. I braced myself for the same fate that befell Alice, then remembered that I still had the knife in my hand.

I tightened my grip on the handle, and when the creature finally stuck his head through the opening he had made, I rammed the blade into its skull. Black blood gurgled up out of the wood like oil that had been struck underground, then, the monster went still. I released my grip on the knife, allowing it to stay stuck in the monster's skull.

I then leaned back against the cabinet wall, and started to recompose myself. I had to find help. Using my foot to dislodge the creature's head from the small door, I pushed the cabinet open and carefully stepped out of my hiding place.

My attacker still laid on the floor, not even so much as moans leaving its body. The initial shock started to wear off, and I remember Alice was still upstairs. Wanting to know whether she was still alive or not, I ran back up to the second floor of the house and to the bedroom.

Wooden splinters from the door cracked underneath my feet as I walked into the bedroom. Alice was nowhere to be seen in the room, and the only proof of her being there, was the blood-stained carpet where she had been laying. Had she been able to get up and go searching for help?

I left out of the bedroom and walked back downstairs, feeling completely used up now. I wasn't sure what I should have been feeling. Fear? Sorrow? There was so much running through my mind, that my brain couldn't register anything. I sat down on the last step of the staircase, and ran my shaky hands through my hair.

As I was taking in deep breaths to try and calm myself, I heard a vase break somewhere in the house. I looked in the direction of the sound. "Alice?" I asked wearily as I stood up and craned my neck to look around the corner. I then saw Alice standing there, staring down at the broken vase as if she had no clue what it was.

Her skin had turned from its gossamer color to that of gray and black ash; just like that thing that had been eating her and attacked me a moment ago. Her eyes were also cloudy over, and the bite wounds on her body bubbled with dark, sickly blood. I stared at her with horror.

"Alice?" Saying something was a mistake. She looked up at me, the same big eyes that had once been so innocent, now turned into anything but. She started to shuffle towards me, and I found myself unable to move. I was grief-stricken to a point of no return.

This wasn't the person that I had once known. No. This was something entirely different, a creature that should have never been a reality in any world. I should have put her out of her misery, but I was unable to do anything except gawk at her.

Her eyes fell down to my ankle that was pouring blood from where the other creature had grabbed onto me. She licked her lips at the sight, almost like it was enticing her. "Alice…..," I whispered. "Don't do this." I could see it clearly in her eyes that she wanted to get a hold of me just like that other monstrosity that I had killed in the kitchen.

But my pleas had fallen on deaf ears, and Alice charged at me. Instincts brought me out of my daze, and I jumped to the side to get out of the way. I knew there was no way that I could bring myself to kill Alice like I had done the other creature.

So, instead of staying and ending her life, I ran out of the house and into the empty streets of Vestal. Or, once empty streets. Now, they were filled with more of those monsters. Their dead, white eyes locked on me, and decaying arms reached out to latch onto my body.

I threw my arms at them, knocking away their hands, but it wasn't doing any good. They had me surrounded and were closing in on me. It got to the point when I could feel almost feel their rotten breath on me.

As they continued to surround me, I dropped down onto the ground and shut my eyes tightly, bracing myself for what was about to come. I felt a hand touch my back, and I screamed out of fear. "Shun! Shun! Wake up!" The voice was familiar, and when I opened my eyes, I saw Alice staring down at me, completely normal and alive.

_Alice_

I had gone into the sleeping quarters to check in on Shun, along with straighten my sleeping cot up for the night. He had been sound asleep in the cot next to mine, so I went about my business as quietly as I could so I wouldn't wake him. He did deserve some rest, after all.

As I straightened the blankets on my cot, Shun made a small noise and moved in his sleep. I looked down at him, and noticed that he continued to move. _He must be having a nightmare, _I thought to myself, not really thinking much of it.

Shun had had plenty of nightmares before, and he didn't really like to be woken from his sleep; even if he was being tormented by his unconscious mind. I went back to making my bed, trying to ignore the muffled sounds of distress coming from him.

Once I had finished making my bed for the night, I started out of the sleeping quarters to return to the others, who were still sitting around on the couches and talking. The moment I sat down, I heard Shun screaming.

Realizing that this was probably worse than most of the nightmares he had had before, I quickly ran back to the sleeping quarters, the other tailing behind me. Shun kept moving around in the cot, fighting off an invisible enemy that was hurting him in his sleep.

I placed a hand on him and tried to shake him awake. "Shun! Shun! Wake up!" I shouted. Baron and the rest of the Vestals stood behind me, staring as the scene unfolded before them. Shun's eyes opened, and he sat straight up in the cot, holding the sides of his head with trembling hands. I had never seen one of these nightmares get to him this badly.

"Could you guys give me a moment to try and calm him down?" I asked the four people standing behind me. They nodded and left out of the sleeping quarters without so much as a word. Although, I knew they were probably saying something about it the moment they reached the main room.

How must it have been to see Shun, somebody who had been one of the sturdiest of their previous group during their time on New Vestroia, now reduced to somebody that was trembling over a dream? I sat down next to Shun and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"It's okay, Shun. It was just a dream," I said in a gentle tone like he had done for me so many times after my nightmares. He want panting, almost gasping for air. I looked at him and said calmly, "I'll be right back, Shun." He nodded to let me know that my words were true, and I stepped halfway out of the sleeping quarters.

"Baron, could you maybe bring Shun some water?" I asked from down the hallway. I saw Baron jump up and vanish for a moment, before reappearing shortly after with a plastic cup filled with the slightly discolored water from the bunker's underground well. I thanked him and returned back to Shun.

He was still trembling, but nowhere near as bad as when he first woke from his nightmare. I handed him the water and told him, "Drink some. It might help and calm you down a little bit." He took the water and sipped on it. I noticed his eyes were a bit glazed over, but I figured it was from being so out of it, thanks to that nightmare of his.

I stayed in the room with him for a bit longer, still trying to console him. But with every time I even grazed his arms with my fingers, he flinched back until he realized it was me. I sat there, wondering what had happened in his dream, but knew Shun wasn't about to say a single word about it now.

I started to grow tired, and laid down on my cot next to Shun. "You go on to sleep. I'll be fine," he told me in a tired voice. They were the first words he had said since he woke up, and they weren't all that reassuring to me. But I saw no point in arguing with him, and closed my eyes. Lucky for me, my sleep wasn't filled with nightmares, but with nothingness.

* * *

i was able to get this out before i had to leave for marching contest by about an hour. woo! well, now i must depart. read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	5. Afterlife

_Shun_

I was terrified to go back to sleep that night. The raw images were still flashing through my mind as I laid in my cot, eyes still wide open. If it hadn't been for Alice waking me when she did, then there was no telling what else would have happen to me in that dream.

It didn't matter that it was only a creation of my mind, it still bothered me. I noticed that everyone in the sleeping quarters was completely out and off in some distant land created by their dreams. I envied them for having a moment of peace, while mine had been turned upside down and into the most horrifying images my brain could think up.

Quietly, I sat up from the cot and left the sleeping quarters, making sure not to wake anyone as I departed. I walked down the hallway that connected all of the rooms in the bunker, and looked up at the rectangular ceiling. A single string was hanging from the door that contained the ladder to the roof.

Feeling that a bit of fresh air might do me some good, I raised myself up on my toes and grabbed onto the string. The ladder then lowered down, the rungs shooting down to the floor. I waited a moment to see if the noise had woken anyone, and when I saw that all was still quiet, I ascended up the ladder.

I had to push open another trap door, and when I climbed out, I was on the roof of the bunker. The cool night air reminded me that not everything had changed, and that nature still went on with its daily routine. I walked to the edge of the roof and peered down to the streets below.

Zombies stumbled along in almost uniform clusters like a small river of death. Their moans and groans filled the night air like a howling wind, which, in turn, sent an inhuman chill up my spine. I sat down beside the edge of the roof, leaning my arm against the small, two foot high wall that rose up from the rest of the building.

The zombies below wouldn't be able to see me unless they looked up, and as long as I never made a sound, they had no reason to look up here. My eyes narrowed down at them, and I felt a hate return to me that I hadn't felt in over six years. It originally been a hate towards the creatures below, but when I discovered there was another monster that caused all of this, my hate redirected to him.

Now, that same hate was boiling back up. Life had been great. No. Perfect. And now it was all going to hell again. My fingers played with a small rock on the roof. I picked it up and examined it for a moment before throwing it down to the streets below.

The little pebble bounced on the ground before coming a halt. The sound and movement caught the attention of several of the zombies, and they shuffled over in the direction of the rock, looking around for where it had gone when it was right in front of them.

"Such simple-minded creatures," I murmured quietly under my breath. They only had the instincts to eat, and nothing else. It was sad when one thought about it. To be cursed to wander around after death just to quench and infinite hunger that would never go away, while your body continued to rot.

I tilted my head back and looked up at the moons of Vestal. Somewhere beyond them, was Earth, a planet that was now utterly destroyed and ruined because of the same virus that had now infected Vestal. Soon, the same thing would become of this place.

It would just turn into another floating rock, completely void of any life except that of the living dead. It was inevitable. If only I had known that the thing that I had run from in order to live, would have followed me and showed up once again, I would have just rather died back on Earth with the rest of my friends.

_But what about Alice? _There was no way that I could have allowed her to be left on her own. But if we somehow knew that Vestal would one day be infected, then maybe we would have gone somewhere else. Although, the virus might have showed up there one day as well.

In the end, nobody knew that this would happen, so there was nothing anyone could do about it. The wind picked up, blowing my hair out of my face. It carried with it the scent of death and decay, but it wasn't enough to make me sick to my stomach; it was close though. A sound from my right made me turn and look, and I saw Alice step onto the roof.

_Alice_

I had heard the sound of the ladder to the roof being let down, and instantly knew that it was Shun. Who else would have been going up there at such a time in the night? In order to prove my theory, I looked over at Shun's cot and found it empty.

A pang of sadness struck me. This repeated reality was hard on everyone, but none more that Shun, it seemed. I climbed out of my cot, thinking that it wasn't a good thing for Shun to be by himself right now. I climbed up the rungs on the ladder and joined him on the roof.

He turned his head and looked at me. "What are you doing up?" he asked me quietly, almost to the point of where I was unable to hear him. I then remember what was walking the streets below, and made a note to keep my voice low as well.

"I could ask you the same thing," I said softly. Shun turned his head up towards the sky and told me, "Couldn't sleep." Just looking at him, even in the darkness, I could see that he wasn't like himself right now. _Then again, when had he ever been himself after that day?, _I quietly asked myself.

Shun had never been the same after that first outbreak; I hadn't either, but I had tried to make things feel as normal as they could get. I sat down beside him, and peered over the roof. I caught a glimpse of the zombies below, surprised by how many were already down there and filling up the streets.

Vestal was a very highly-populated planet, so it only made sense that there would be a very high population of zombies to take the place of the living. "It all feels like a dream….A really bad dream," Shun said, never taking his sad eyes from the zombies.

I took one of his hands in mine as a means of support, and to let him know that I was there. "You're right about that. It does all feel like it should be a dream," I said quietly so we wouldn't be heard. He slid his hand out from mine and crossed his arms over his chest.

"All it would take is to jump down there into that mess, and it would all be over. I'd do it if I weren't afraid of becoming one of those mindless things, and I have to make sure nothing happens to you," he said grimly. It was strange listening to Shun talk about ending it all here, but it was also kind of reassuring to know that he wasn't going to.

Not like this, at least. If he were to die, I was sure he would make it on his own terms. The moons moved with the time of night, and now the light from them reflected on Shun's face, bringing out the dark circles that had formed under his eyes.

The light also made his face look paler than it was. He looked sickly under the moonlight, and it made me worry. The first outbreak had left the two of us completely broken apart, but I had started to somewhat heal with time. Shun also appeared that he was healing as well, but had it all been an act?

Had Shun still been just as destroyed as the day we escaped the virus, and now that it was back, it was taking a heavy toll on him? It made sense if that was the case.

What we went through was a traumatic experience, and neither one of us had gone to seek any kind of help for two reasons; we were positive that nobody would believe us, or they wouldn't know how to help us. So, it had been all up to us to repair the damage done to our mental states.

I placed my hand on Shun's shoulder and didn't say anything; I couldn't think of anything to say to him. At the time, words didn't feel like they could do much for what we were going through.

_Dan_

It felt like I was floating through water. Peaceful water. It was light and cool, but not enough to chill me. What happened to me was somewhat of a blur. The last things I remembered, was me telling Shun to let go of my hand. Then, an intense pain had taken over my body after that.

The rest, was a total blank slate covered with a black cloth. The most I could assume, was that I was dead. Simple as that. I wasn't in denial about it, for it was the most peace I had ever felt in my entire life. The water around me made me feel that I had no care in the world.

My eyes were shut, and a slight grin on my face. Of course, I kind of wanted to know what happened to the others, but at that moment, I was feeling so much bliss, that the relief was all I could really focus on. A noise brought me out of my trance, and I forced my eyes open slightly.

They felt like lead weights were holding them down, but I was able to get them open enough to see out. My vision was distorted, but I saw what appeared to be a person in a white lab coat. They picked something up off the ground and walked off.

Now, it felt like I was coming out of a deep sleep. My eyes opened up the rest of the way, and I looked down at myself. I was in water, but it wasn't exactly peaceful anymore. Wires and all kind of machines were stuck onto my body as I floated in a cylindrical container of fluid.

My eyes looked to my right, and I gasped, bubbles escaping my mouth rather than a sound. In three more containers, were Murucho, Runo, and Julie. They floated in the same liquid as me, and had the same amount of wires stuck on them as I did.

I began to panic, my once blissful state now gone. I was kicking and hitting the container, but the glass was much too thick for me to break. And now that I was thinking about it, the liquid that I was in and had given me peace, had turned into my enemy. I felt like I was drowning in it, and started to claw at the circular walls that surrounded me.

In the water, I screamed, the sound muffled between the fluid and glass. Somewhere in the room, a red light started to flash, and people began to run towards my container. I couldn't see them clearly thanks to the glass and fluid, but I was able to make out that they were pressing buttons in front of my container.

I continued to scream when I saw something creeping up one of the tubes connected to my arm. It was a thick, dark purple liquid that was being injected into me. This caused me to panic even more, and my struggle to get out continued to get more intense.

But I started to feel my energy and strength fade away from me shortly after I was injected. My eyes grew heavy again, and my limbs and body went limp in the fluid-filled container. Then, I returned back to feeling like I was floating in water, completely in bliss.

* * *

_chapter title based off the song Afterlife by Switchfoot. _yup. i just did that, and i'm sure a bunch of people freaked out. which is what i was aiming for. btw, our band did awesome at contest! we got all superior ratings, and best in our division. now we just have to do the same thing next week! well, read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	6. Going Viral

_Alice_

I was sitting beside Shun on the couch in the main room; he had never gone back to sleep last night, and I didn't want to leave his side, so I fought through my drowsiness to stay up with him. Sometime ago, before the others woke up, we had left the roof and its cool night air and returned to the inside of the bunker.

He was twirling one of my orange curls; a habit he had when he needed a way to calm his nerves or to get his mind off of some things. I could see in his eyes that he was struggling to stay awake in front of the others. What would they think if all of a sudden Shun went back to bed after they thought he had been asleep all of yesterday?

They might start growing suspicious or weary of him, and I didn't want to see us turn on each other this soon. I looked towards the kitchen, and saw Keith standing in front of an open cabinet, brows furrowed in clear agitation.

Mira noticed her brother's distress and asked him from the main room, "Is everything alright, Keith?" He closed the cabinet and joined us in the room. Arms folded over his chest, he told us, "Looks like we will have to make a run for food soon." Ace gazed at him with disbelief.

"What do you mean? You said there was enough food to last us at least a month!" he snapped. Mira placed her hand on his shoulder and whispered something to him, which, in turn, made him calm down a bit.

Keith sighed and told us, "I said there _might _have been enough food in there for the _four _of us if we rationed it out conservatively. But we've added two more people into the mix, and there's just no way that what we have will last us much longer. The only thing we can do is get a group together to go out there and bring back some food and supplies."

Baron pushed himself into the couch cushions and muttered, "I'm not going out there….." His gaze was fixed on the steel door that led to the outside world that was dominated with zombies. Mira then said, "I think Keith should stay here and keep guard in case some of those things breach the bunker."

True, Keith was very skilled in fighting, but I had a feeling that Mira didn't want to let her brother go because he was her family. Sadly, that wasn't how the world worked anymore. Family was still sacred, but it was also could be something that got in the way.

Ace blew a stray strand of his mint-colored hair and said, "I guess I'll go and find us some food. There used to be a grocery store a little way down the street, so there might be some food left there. Plus, it's not that far away. A short distance is a good thing in this kind of scenario."

Keith nodded and scratched the back of his neck. "But you can't go by yourself. You need somebody to watch your back, Ace. How about I-" Keith was cut off mid-sentence by Shun. "I'll go with him. I still have some of fighting skills down, so I think I'd be a valuable asset," he said tiredly.

I stared at him as if he had lost his mind. "Shun, you can't go out there," I told him. Ace, who was leaning against the wall with his eyes closed, said, "Well, it's obvious that Baron isn't going to go, and Mira isn't going to let Keith out of this building. And it's probably a given that you girls are going to stay here where it's safe. So, there's not much other choice. Believe me, though, I'm not thrilled about the pair-up, but it's better than going out there by myself and decreasing my odds of surviving."

Shun was looking at me, a grin on his face. "Hey, I'll be fine. You worry about me too much," he told me. _I wouldn't worry so much if you didn't give me so many reasons to….._

Keith clapped his hands together and said, "Ok, then, it's settled. Ace and Shun will go and bring us back some food, I'll stay behind and hold down the fort, while the girls and Baron stay behind. Is that clear?"

He was answered by several nods; I hesitated before nodding as well. I wasn't too thrilled about this plan, but it was either this or starve.

_Shun_

Keith instructed Ace and I to take whatever we wanted from the surplus of weapons they had acquired. Ace immediately reached into the pile, obviously already knowing what he wanted. He pulled out a small hand-ax like what would be in a fire emergency kit.

The sharpened blade already had a couple of blood stains on the shining metal from where it had been used. My eyes scanned over the pile, and they locked onto two familiar weapons; the whip-chain and sword I had used to fight off zombies during the first outbreak.

I reached down and picked them up. "I thought I junked these the moment we got to Vestal," I said to myself. I had tossed them so I wouldn't remember all of the bad things that had happened. Keith told me, "You did, but I decided to keep them. It felt like a waste to junk them, and it might have been a good choice to hold onto them, seeing as how things are now."

I nodded and picked the two weapons, surprised to find them in better looking condition than I had left them in. "I guess I'll take these then. I mean, I'm familiar with them, after all," I said as I hooked the whip-chain to one of my hips, and the sword to the other.

Keith nodded and told Ace and I, "Alright, try and be back here before, or right at, dark. If you guys aren't back at least by tomorrow, then all we can do is assume the worst. Be safe, now." We nodded and climbed the ladder up to the roof of the bunker.

It was virtually impossible to go out the front door of the complex, seeing as there were still hundreds of zombies in the streets below. Ace hooked the hand-ax he chose to a belt loop on his pants, and double-checked to make sure that it was secure.

Once that was done, he put some distance between him and the edge of the roof, and took off running. He then jumped from this roof, to the one neighboring the bunker. Ace straightened up and motioned for me to go. I gave him a nod and copied him, jumping onto the same roof as him.

My legs wobbled when I landed, and I almost lost my balance. Ace cut me a look and said coldly, "I hope you're not going to slow me down." I narrowed my eyes at him and said breathlessly, "I'm not what I used to be six years ago, and you know that." Six years ago, that leap would have been childs-play for me, but not so much now.

I had stopped training, allowing myself to become weaker than I should have been. There was also the fact that I hadn't gotten much sleep as of late, and I had been extremely tired and drained of energy. Ace shrugged and said, "Whatever you say. Now, let's keep moving. We don't want Keith and the others thinking we're dead when we don't show up cause we're running late."

I nodded and we jumped from roof to roof until we reached an area that was less crowded by zombies. There were one or two stray ones below, and Ace jumped down from the roof and landed behind one. He swung the ax and the blade wedged itself into the zombie's skull.

When he pulled the weapon out, the creature fell to the ground with a thud, signaling to his friend across the street that there was movement near. The zombie turned around and headed for Ace, who had already readied himself for the attack. But before the monster could get near him, I swung the bladed whip-chain, causing it to cut deep into the zombie's head.

It dropped dead next to its other dead partner. Ace cut me a look and said flatly, "I could have handled that one." I returned the glare and told him, "I know, but that doesn't mean you have to kill every last one of them. We have to work together if we want to get back to the others, and we both know that teamwork isn't something that's a strong point for you and I. So, it needs to start becoming a strong point, and soon. Or else, we might as well just give up now while we're ahead."

We probably could have survived on our own, but we had to bring back food to the others, which meant the one would be occupied by something else and defenseless. It was beneficial to have an extra set of eyes on look-out.

Ace sighed and said, "Alright. Let's just find that grocery store and get out of here as soon as possible." I nodded and followed him down the street, my eyes constantly scanning for a stray zombie that may have been hiding in the shadows. We came up to the grocery store.

The front windows were shattered, glass scattered all over the ground, and torn apart packages of food littered the ground as well. Ace stepped through one of the broken windows, glass cracking underneath his weight. He looked around, then motioned for me to follow.

"It's clear as far as I can tell. Just don't open any doors. There might be some hiding inside storage rooms or something." I narrowed my eyes at him, amused by the fact that he was telling me what to do, as if he had been through the apocalypse and I hadn't.

But I held my tongue and stepped through the same window that he had. Ace snatched up several plastic bags from a register and started throwing anything and everything into them. The shelves still held food on them, but not the surplus that it normally would have; there were a few cans of things here and there, and occasionally a box of something or another every so often.

I was tossing cans into one of my plastic bags, when I removed one can from a shelf, a gray and rotten hand shot out. I screamed in surprise when I saw a zombie trying to reach me from the other side of the shelf. It now laid on the shelf, arms and hands flailing in order to try and reach me.

It then pulled itself through, and landed on the tiled floor in front of me. As it stood up, my hands tightened on the plastic bag filled with cans, and I swung the weighted object at the zombie. It collided with its head, tearing the plastic bag and sending cans flying and landing on the ground, creating too much noise for my liking.

The zombie stumbled, but was not dead from the impact. It ran at me, and instead of reaching for one of my weapons, I grabbed another one of the plastic bags I had with me, and slipped it over the creature's head. Its teeth tried to tear through the plastic in order to bit me, and I saw one of the teeth starting to make a hole in the bag.

Suddenly, a flash of shining metal crossed my field of vision. Next thing I knew, was that an ax was sticking out of the zombie's head. It dropped to the ground with a thud, the ax only lodging deeper into its brain from the way he fell on it. I looked over and saw Ace standing there, looking down at the dead corpse.

"A plastic bag, huh? Wonder when they became more deadly than a sword," he said while yanking the ax out of the corpse's skull. I cringed at the sound of shattered bone and brain matter being pulled out along with it. "Continue to collect food," he told me and vanished down another aisle.

I picked up the handful of plastic bags I had dropped and went to pick up the cans that had flown out of bag when I hit the zombie with it. When I knelt down to pick up a can of soup, a wave of vertigo and nausea hit me, causing me to hold myself up with my hands so I didn't fall headfirst into the tile floor.

The feeling passed as quickly as it had came, but left me somewhat shaken. I shook it off and placed the can into the bag, then continued to pick up the rest of the spilled food.

_Shun_

When we saw that it was nearing nighttime, Ace and I decided that it was time to head back to the bunker so the others wouldn't worry themselves sick about us. We each had several bags filled with different kinds of dried goods; all of the meat had either spoiled or been eaten on by curious zombies at some point.

The two of us walked down the desolate streets; there was no way that we would be able to jump from roof to roof with the weight of the food on our backs. _Probably should have thought this part through. _But as long as the streets stayed fairly empty and void of the undead, we could easily sneak past them by laying low and out of their field of vision, or by just killing them off as we went.

But the moment the streets started to get crowded again, neither one of us knew what we'd do then. Ace suddenly whispered to me, "I see the bunker up ahead. It doesn't look like there's hardly any zombies in front of it. This might actually end up without any problems."

I nodded. We walked a little bit further, when one of my overstuffed plastic bags had a hole torn in it by a can. Several metal containers fell out, creating noise in the streets. Ace's eyes widened, and he looked at me like I had just killed somebody.

"Sorry, it wasn't my fault," I told him quietly. I stopped more cans from falling out by holding the tear in my hands. We both stood still for a moment, hardly even moving or breathing as we waited to see if we had attracted any unwanted guests. When nothing showed up after a minute, both of us let out a sigh of relief and hurried down to the bunker.

Right when it was just within our reach, a zombie jumped out from an alley. I gasped and stumbled back in order to get away from it. This zombie, was a woman from what I could see. She clawed at me, and I was unable to fight back with the bags of food in my hands.

I would have to put them down in order to defend myself, and I was just about to do that when Ace went ahead and stuck the ax in her head. "Come on! Hurry up and get inside!" he shouted, and I saw why. A hoard was moving towards us, and fast.

We ran towards the bunker, and the hoard was surrounding us more and more with each passing minute. Ace and I reached the door and were about to knock on it to let the others know to let us in, but the zombies had surrounded us to the point that if we stopped for half a second, they would have gotten us.

Ace and I dropped the bags of groceries in front of the door; he pulled out the ax, and I took out my sword. We started to swing our weapons, digging the metal into skulls and cutting off heads. Ace shouted, "Keith! Let us in!" But the ones inside apparently couldn't hear our shouts for help.

Ace and I kept hacking away at our attackers. We were standing back to back, and completely surrounded now. I spun on my heels and extended out the blade of the sword. As the blade followed the rotation, it took out several zombies, but it also caught something else; Ace's back.

He screamed out in pain, and when I turned around, I saw a clean gash in his back, blood pouring from the wound and drenching his clothes. He dropped to his knees, unable to defend himself. I quickly ran over to him and took out the zombies that had now locked onto the sweet scent of his blood; it was starting to draw them to Ace like moths to a flame.

I quickly picked Ace up to his feet by him arm, causing him to wince in pain, and backed up to the door of the bunker. When I let go, Ace dropped to the ground and gasped in pain. The zombies started to move in on us, and I kicked the metal door with my foot several times. "Let us in!" I shouted and took another head off a zombie's shoulders.

_Alice_

It was nearing dark, and Shun and Ace had yet to return. Worry was building up inside of me to the point of where I could no longer sit still. Mira saw my distress and told me, "I'm sure they're fine. They're probably just making sure to be careful."

I nodded, but froze when there was a beating on the door, followed by a muffled yell that we could hardly hear. "That must be them!" Keith shouted and ran over to the door. He opened it slightly to peer outside, then slammed it shut.

"There's a hoard out there that has them pinned against the door. If I open this and let them inside, then the hoard will follow as well. I'm going up on the roof to shoot some down. When I give the signal, I want one of you to pull the door open and slam it closed."

Keith then ran off, grabbing his crossbow, and hurried up to the roof. Mira ran over to the door, keeping her hand on the knob, and said, "I'll open it when Keith gives us the word. Alice, keep an ear open for my brother, will ya?" I nodded and listened carefully for whatever signal Keith was going to give us.

But in the meantime, I ran over to one of the small windows, and stood up on a chair so I could see outside. Through the murky glass, all I could see was rotten legs, and a couple of corpses lying on the ground. Then, one corpse landed in front of the window, and arrow sticking out between its eyes.

I squealed and jumped down. Suddenly, I heard Keith from the roof shout, "Open the door! Open the door!" Mira heard him and swung the heavy metal door open. Shun tumbled back into the bunker. I was able to see outside the door and into the eyes of about fifty zombies that were trying to get inside.

Shun then leaned forward, and pulled Ace and several plastic bags inside. "Shut it! Shut the damn door!" he shouted, and Mira nodded before pushing the door closed and locking it. Shun laid on his back and was panting heavily, blood covering him and his clothes.

But what was really shocking, was Ace. He was pouring blood out onto the floor, and when I saw his back, I realized why; he had a gash running from his shoulder blade and down to his lower back in an almost perfect diagonal. He was wincing in pain and taking in sharp gasps for air.

Keith ran down the ladder from the roof and saw the compromising scene. "What the hell happened?" he asked and ran over to Ace to look at the wound. Shun sat up and said between breaths, "My sword…..Must've caught him…..While I was…..Fighting….."

Keith furrowed his brows and touched the surrounding flesh of the wound. Ace cried out in pain. The spiky blonde told us, "It doesn't look like a fatal wound. A couple of stitches and he should be fine. Alice, do you know how to sew?"

I blinked in surprise then told him, "A little bit, but I don't think this is-" He cut me off by saying, "It'll have to do. There's an emergency kit with a sewing kit in it in the kitchen. Go get it." I nodded and ran into the kitchen and started to dig around in the cabinets.

Eventually, I found the kit and ran back into the main room, where I dug around and found the kit, along with some disinfectant. Keith took the scissors from the kit and cut Ace's bloody and ruined shirt off of his body. The blonde-haired man then instructed me to use the disinfectant around the wound, then start to sew the gash up.

I did as he said, and started to thread several strings tied together through Ace's flesh. He cried out in pain again, and I apologized for causing him pain. Shun was staring at the scene, a look of guilt on his face. I felt bad for him, because I knew this had to have been an accident.

I finished patching up the wound, and Ace had passed out at some point. Keith wiped some sweat from his brow and said, "That should do for now. Baron, could you help me carry Ace back to the sleeping quarters?" Baron nodded and carefully picked the unconscious Ace up.

Shun stood up and said wearily, "It was an accident." I placed a hand on his shoulder and told him, "I know, Shun. I don't think you'd ever have a reason to try and do this on purpose." He smiled at me, but that smile suddenly vanished when he started to cough violently.

"Shun?" I asked when he bent over and the coughs grew worse. Baron and Keith ran back in the room, obviously confused by what was going on now. Shun then coughed up blood into his hand and onto the floor, then collapsed.

* * *

i went on my third driving lesson and went over 30 mph today! go me! o.o'' read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	7. Signs

_Alice_

I stared at Shun for a moment, in shock and not sure what to think. But the moment I snapped out of it, I tried to run to his side. Keith's arm shot out and stopped me before I had to chance to get any closer. He said hastily, "Careful! He might be infected."

It didn't matter to me at the time; Shun needed help. Keith held me back while I gawked at Shun. He was still laying on the ground, violently shivering and still coughing. What was happening to him? Was he really infected? If so, then how? I didn't see any bite marks anywhere on his body, and he couldn't have been infected by the virus when it was airborne, or else he would have turned into one of those monsters by now.

Keith's eyes watched Shun carefully as the raven-haired boy laid on the ground whimpering in pain. I couldn't take it any longer, and when I saw that Keith was no longer focusing on keeping me away from Shun, I ducked under his arm and knelt down beside Shun.

"Alice!" Keith snapped and started to reach for me in order to pull me away, but Mira stopped him. "Let her stay there," she told her brother. Baron, hand covering his mouth in shock, only stared at the scene. But he was the least of my worries; now, Shun was the center of my attention.

I placed a hand on his back, not sure what to say or do. He was very warm to the touch, signaling that he was sporting a fever. A sick feeling overcame me when the idea that he could really be infected crossed my mind. What would I do if this was true?

I knew I definitely wouldn't want to watch Shun turn into one of those creatures outside, and I certainly didn't want to watch Keith or one of the others have to kill him again so he wouldn't hurt any of us. Tears were streaking down my eyes, and I wiped them away with the palm of my hand.

Shun had apparently, or what I hoped, passed out. To make sure, I checked to see if he was still breathing and if he had a pulse, which he did. "What should we do?" Baron asked in a shaky voice. Was he so shaken up because it was Shun that was in the line of fire like his family had been, and he didn't want to see anyone else he knew perish in this kind of manner?

Or was he scared because the virus may have infiltrated our sanctuary? "Not sure," Keith answered, but I knew exactly what they would most likely do. If Shun turned, they would most certainly kill him. With that thought, I wanted to fight and stop them from trying to do something that horrible, but quickly realized that it was the only thing that could be done.

If this really was the same virus as the one outside, then it would take Shun away from us, leaving him as something entirely different. He would have no memory of us, and would only want to kill us. This would turn Shun into our enemy, leaving us no other choice but to put him out of his misery.

But I didn't want to believe it. I didn't want to believe that Shun really might be infected. Keith knelt down beside me and said, "Here, let's lay him on the couch and get him off this floor." His voice was full of sympathy towards me; he was already certain that there was no hope for Shun.

Keith called Baron over to his side, and the two picked Shun up and placed his limp body down on the couch. On the floor, were large bloodstains from where Shun coughed his blood up. No longer wanted to stand, I sat down on the couch across from Shun and allowed some of this to sink it.

Then, an idea hit me and I turned to face Keith. "What if it's not the virus? What if he just has some other illness? I mean, we still aren't used to all of the diseases on Vestal. Maybe he came in contact with something else," I said, my voice overflowing with hope.

It was true that Shun and I hardly had any immunity to the simple diseases on Vestal. I recalled one time that I came down with the equivalent of a cold on Vestal, and thought I was going to die from it. Keith crossed his arms over his chest and said, "It's possible, but-"

My emotions got the better of me, and I cut him off. "You even said so yourself that Shun and I would have turned long ago if we had contracted the airborne strand of the virus. And he hasn't been bitten. Isn't that enough to say he isn't going to die?"

I was wishing for Keith to tell me what I wanted to hear, but instead, he said, "I suppose I could run a few tests and try to find what's wrong with him." It wasn't exactly what I wanted to hear, but it was close enough. At least he wasn't going to go ahead and kill Shun because he and the others assumed that he had been infected.

Now, there was a chance that we might disprove this, and maybe even get Shun some help if possible. My eyes glanced back over to Shun, who still remained motionless. "But if he is infected, then perhaps the antidote that was given to him during the first outbreak can fight this off," I said to myself, and meant to keep the words inside my head as thoughts.

Mira tilted her head to the side. "Antidote?" It then occurred to me that Shun and I hadn't told them everything that happened back on Earth; we only got to the point and told them about the virus and what happened to the others.

I nodded and told them, "The same people that created this virus, kidnapped Shun as an experiment for their antidote during the first outbreak. Luckily for him, they perfected it when they got to him. But like I said, maybe whatever is left of the antidote might be enough to fight the virus off. If he's infected with it, that is."

Keith nodded. "I see," he said. "Well, I'll take some samples of his blood and take a look at them. When I'm done, I'll let you all know what I found." I watched as Keith vanished down the hall, then returned shortly after with a syringe and several empty vials.

When the outbreak on Vestal started, Keith had taken some of his lab equipment with him to the bunker so he could learn about the virus that was turning people into monsters. He took several vials of Shun's blood and vanished to the room that held all of his equipment inside.

I then left my seat on the couch and knelt down beside Shun, praying that whatever Keith found wasn't what everyone thought it was.

_Mira_

I wasn't sure what to do, or what I possibly could do to help out in this situation; odds are, there wasn't much. There was nothing I could do for Shun, and Keith was more than capable of handling the tests on his own. Perhaps I could have tried to comfort Alice, but that wasn't one of my strong points.

I then remembered Ace, and decided that I could check in on him. I walked down the hallway and into the sleeping quarters. Inside, I found the mint-haired boy sleeping soundly on his stomach in one of the cots, bandages wrapped around his back so the stitches wouldn't get damaged or come loose while he healed.

From what we had gathered, Ace had gotten in the line of fire, and Shun caught him in the back with his sword. I firmly believed it was an accident because if Shun did want to or have a reason to kill Ace, he would have killed him. Simple as that.

But he hardly left a fatal wound on Ace, telling me that it was nothing more than a slip of the wrist. I sat on the cot beside him and his smoky gray eyes opened slowly. "Mira? What are you doing in here?" he asked tiredly. I smiled and told him, "Just checking on you and seeing if you needed anything."

He shook his head, then winced in pain. "I'm going to kill that careless fool for nearly killing me out there," he hissed. My smile faded away, and I cast my eyes down. Ace caught onto my change in demeanor and asked, "What's wrong?" I sighed, seeing no point in trying to keep this a secret from Ace; sooner or later, he would find out.

"After Keith and Baron took you back here while you were unconscious, Shun started to fall ill. Keith's running some tests now to see what's wrong with him." Ace blinked in surprise, then narrowed his eyes. "I knew something wasn't right with him the moment he and Alice showed up here. Looks like I was right." I was surprised by what he had to say, but I probably shouldn't have been.

It was clear as day that Ace was suspicious of Shun being infected the moment they arrived at the bunker, but I thought that after several days, and Shun hardly showing any signs of growing ill, he would have pushed that idea out of his mind. _Apparently not, though. _

I stood up, the cot sighing with relief now that my weight wasn't being pressed down on it. "Well, if you don't need anything, I'm going to check on Shun and Alice. Call for me or one of the others if you need something," I told him while leaving the sleeping quarters.

Now that I was back in the hallway, I glanced down at the room where Keith was in now. Quietly, I made my way towards the room and peered inside. Keith was bent over a microscope, then leaned back and sighed. When I saw him getting out of his chair, I hurried down the hallway and into the main room.

Alice was still where I had left her, and Baron was standing far away from the two, obviously scared of whatever it was that Shun had. Keith then walked into the room and cleared his throat.

_Alice_

I heard Keith clear his throat behind me, and turned around to look at the spiky-haired man. "Well, I found something out," he said with a somewhat troubled voice. I didn't let this bother me though, and tried to stay positive. "What is it?" I asked, eager to put an end to my worries.

Keith's eyes fell on Shun, and he sighed. "I hate to say this, but he's infected." I felt my shoulders sag slightly, and I stared at Keith, not knowing what to say.

Keith continued to speak. "Odds are, he's been infected since the virus was let loose in Vestal. The only reason he hasn't turned, is because something was holding the virus back; I assume it was that antidote you were talking about. But it looks like it's unable to keep the virus at bay for any longer."

I was fighting to hold back my tears and keep my voice steady. "B-but if the antidote has h-held it back for this long, then why won't it k-keep him from turning?" I asked, trying to digest what I had just been told. Keith shook his head and gave me a sympathetic look with those ice blue eyes of his.

"That antidote is six years old, Alice. It's probably lost most of its efficiency, and there's also the fact that this is a different virus from what it was created for. Actually, I'm surprised the antidote has held it off for this long. I'm sorry, but there's nothing we can really do for him now, Alice."

I felt like there was a knot in my chest now that I had been told that Shun was a lost cause. I turned my head and looked back at him. He had dark circles underneath his eyes, and his breaths were short and labored. How could I not have seen this happening?

The night that he had been sweating when it hadn't been that warm in the bunker, the sudden bouts of vertigo, when he threw up the moment we arrived here, and how sickly he had looked last night on the roof. I had stood by and watched him deteriorate, clinging to the idea that he hadn't been infected cause neither one of us had turned.

* * *

yup. went there once again. and before people start wigging out, you all should know by now that i got this ;p (for the most part) well, read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	8. Playing God

_Dan_

I felt myself waking back up, but wasn't sure why I that was exactly a bad thing. The water that I had once been floating in, was now gone, and I was laying on a hard surface of some sort. All around me, there was chatter and conversations taking place, but I was so out of it, that I couldn't lock in on anything that was being said.

To see what was going on, I reluctantly forced my eyes open and was blinded by bright, florescent lights. My eyes squinted shut and quickly adjusted to the sudden change in brightness. I looked around the room; it was nothing but four white walls, medical equipment, and many people in lab coats.

I started to grow anxious. What was going on now? A woman in a lab coat walked past me, and I quickly shut my eyes and pretended to be asleep. Once she was past me, I began to look around again. I then caught sight of something else; Runo, Murucho, and Julie were laid out on a table, a white cloth covering their bodies like me. "Hey, guys?" I whispered over to them, hoping to get them to stir.

They didn't even so much as move a muscle. The sound of a door opening and shutting tore my attention away from my unconscious friends. Near the roof of the room, there was an observatory looking down on us. A long, dark tinted window stretched from end to end on the wall.

Then, lights turned on inside of the room, and I saw several people standing inside and staring down at us. There was a man in a lab coat standing in the center of the people. From the distance I was at, he seemed to have graying hair, but still appeared to be fairly young in the face.

He leaned over and said into a microphone, "Everyone, work hard today. This might be the day that we solve our little problem." I narrowed my eyes and tried to examine him a bit more closely, but I couldn't tell anything from way down here on my table.

The lights flipped off in the observatory, and the man that had been talking, stepped through a door and into our room. I kept my eyes slightly open as he walked around. _If only he'd turn around so I could see his face, _I said to myself. His back was still turned to me when he pressed several buttons on a keypad.

He hit enter and two sliding doors opened up, revealing a person locked up in a cage. Shocked, I sat up slightly while everyone was focused on the prisoner. The man that was locked up, couldn't have been much older than me. His eyes were wide with fear, his skin stained with dried blood, and his hair unkempt.

When he saw the man in the lab coat, his eyes only spewed more fear as he ran towards the back of his prison. "Now, now. There's no need to be afraid," the man told the caged-boy; it was obvious that the person in the cage didn't believe a word that this guy was saying.

The man in the lab coat looked to one of the assistants standing beside him and he asked, "How long has it been since he was injected?" A woman looked down at the clipboard and told him, "Almost an hour. He's showing no signs of reversing back."

I arched one of my eyebrows in confusion. What were they talking about? Reversing back? Back into what? The lab coat guy scratched his chin and said, "Well, we still have to watch him. The other serums haven't lasted that long, but it doesn't mean that we've made what we need. Keep him under close observation."

His assistant nodded and scribbled something down on her clipboard, then followed him to another part of the room. He was standing over Murucho, and brushed a stray lock of his blonde hair back. "These four, they are proof of all of our hard work. Remember that, please," he said.

His assistant nodded and said, "Yes, Mr. Layfair. I'll make sure that nobody forgets." The man then snatched a syringe from a tray and held it up above his head. "This! This is what will save us all! But sadly, the effects are not permanent yet. Do you all know what will happen to us if the effects are not permanent? We will all die! Do any of you want that? No? I didn't think so. Get to work!" Layfair shouted, sending reverberations throughout the room.

He slammed the syringe back down on the tray and finally turned around. My eyes widen, and a rush of memories that I had forgotten came back as a slideshow of horror in fast-forward. I witnessed Shun having to kill Julie, Runo's death, and her eating Murucho.

Pictures of me, Shun, and Alice back at the mansion came back, and when a hoard of zombies infiltrated our safe haven because somebody let them in as a means of revenge. Then, I saw when we were trying to make it to the jet, and I was bitten and told Shun that he had no choice but to leave me behind.

That was the extent of my memories, and they stopped, leaving me laying on the table dazed and confused. _All of that….All of that happened….._ I had died. We all _died. _Then why were we all back here? How? Screams from the caged man forced me to put my focus somewhere else.

He was huddled in the corner of his cage, staring at his hands in horror, and I saw why. They were turning black, and the discoloration was spreading up his arms towards his body. He started to scratch at his skin, tearing away at his flesh and leaving blood splatters all along the floor of his cage.

I stared in shock as he turned from a normal person, to the very creature that had taken everything away from us; a zombie. He moaned and crawled over to the side of his cage, and extended his arm out through the bars. Layfair crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at the corpse.

"Inject him with one of our other serums. Let's see how long they last," he said coldly. His assistant nodded and ran over to a tray, carefully selected a syringe, and stuck the needle into the arm of the newly-turned zombie. It withdrew its hand, then let out an inhuman shriek.

Slowly, his skin and flesh turned from decayed and rotten, to that of a living person. Now, the frightened man was back, and curled up in the back of the cage, trembling from pain and fear. I wasn't sure what to think of this. These people were trying to develop a serum that could turn the dead back into the living.

It wasn't right. This was something that should have never been done. It was playing God. A throbbing started in my right hand, and I looked down to see a black spot forming. The spot started to grow larger and spread throughout my hand.

My eyes widened, and I began to tremble; I was still dead, nothing more than one of their sick experiments like that man in the cage. In shock, I turned and looked at the others and saw that same black spots starting to appear on them as well.

These people had tested their serums on us to see which one would work and bring us back permanently, when none of us should have been alive after what happened on Earth. My world felt like it was slowing down each second, and I felt myself snap.

I sat up and leaped off of the table I was placed on, and ran for whatever door I could find. Behind me, I heard somebody shout, "He's awake! Catch him!" I reached a door and slammed my fist into the cold steel. "Somebody! Let me out!" I shouted and started to press random buttons on the keypad.

Several sets of hands latched onto my arms and shoulders. They pulled me back and pinned me on the ground. I was able to open my eyes, and I saw Layfair standing over me, a syringe held in his hands. Seeing this made me struggle even more, but all my efforts were for nothing when I felt the needle stick into my thigh.

I grimaced in pain as the serum went into body. The hands that held me down released me, and I shot up to my feet and ran back to the door.

I resumed to beat on the door and felt myself growing tired. I then caught sight of my hand, and the black spot started to vanish. My legs then began to wobble, and I dropped to the ground in a heap. I then felt several sets of hands pick me up, and I was placed back down on my table, where I proceeded to pass out.

_Alice_

It pained me to only be able to sit there helplessly while Shun suffered. His cough and fever had only gotten worse over the course of twenty-four hours, but at least he was still able to carry on a conversation for a little while.

And since he had fallen ill, I had stayed by his side as much as I possibly could, just in case he might have needed anything. That morning, I had gotten up and gone straight to him and knelt down beside the couch that Keith and Baron had placed him on yesterday.

His face had grown paler overnight, bringing out the dark circles that had formed underneath his eyes. From what Keith had told us, the antidote that Shun had been injected with six years ago, was the only thing keeping this virus at bay. But not for much longer.

Over the years, the antidote had apparently weakened with time, and along with the fact that this was a new strain of the virus, the antidote that was working as a barrier, wouldn't be able to hold up forever. I sighed and pushed Shun's hair out from in front of his face, feeling the heat from the fever as I did so. His eyes opened slightly, and he turned to look at me.

"Morning," I said with a sad smile. He returned my sad smile with one of his own. "Morning," he said hoarsely, trying to return to formalities. He coughed after that, and all I could do was shut my eyes and keep telling myself that there was nothing that I could do to help him.

I turned my head away and found myself looking at the bloodstain on the floor from where Shun had first really exhibited any signs of being sick. As I stared blankly at the stain, I noticed that Shun had stopped coughing, and I turned back around. He had fallen back asleep, or passed out.

I wasn't sure which one. Regardless, if it meant giving him relief from this, then I didn't want to disturb him. The others began to appear in the main room of the bunker one by one as they woke up for the day. Ace, who had been bedridden with an injury, also joined the group today.

He lumbered into the room, holding onto his lower back, which made his look somewhat like an old man. His eyes found their way over to Shun, and they narrowed. I wasn't sure if it was from the fact that Shun was infected, or if it was because Shun had hurt him on accident.

Keith had retreated into the kitchen and started to make breakfast for our group. Thanks to Ace and Shun, they had brought us some more food, allowing us to have somewhat larger portions, even seconds if we wanted any. Keith poked his head out of the kitchen and said, "Food's ready."

Everyone except for me got up and headed towards the kitchen. Baron noticed that I wasn't joining them and asked, "Aren't you going to get any, Master Alice?" I shook my head and told him, "I'm not all that hungry, Baron."

The pink, spiky-haired boy gave me a worried look before going into the kitchen and getting his serving. To be honest, I was hungry, but I had no desire to eat. When everyone was done with their food, they stayed in the kitchen and chatted.

I hated how the main room, which had once been the place to socialize in the bunker, had now been turned into a place where everyone refused to go. I knew it was because Shun was infected, but he was of no threat yet. Ace walked into the room, followed by several of the others.

Mira walked over next to me and said gently, "You really need to eat something, Alice. It'll do you some good." I shook my head and told her, "No. I'm fine." Ace then let out a short, humorless laugh, causing all of us to turn and face him.

He crossed his arms over his chest and said, "Why can't we just go ahead and put him out of his misery. It's obvious that nobody here wants to watching him lay there and slowly die. It'd be better for everyone if we just go ahead and put an end to it."

I didn't even realize that I had gotten up and walked over to him, until my hand had contacted with his face. Ace brought his hand up to where I had slapped him, and stared at me with a dumbfounded expression.

I said coldly, "We're not doing that until we have no other choice. There might still be a chance that Shun can fight this thing off. But we aren't going to kill him while he's still alive. We are not going to kill the living."

Maybe it made a bad person to not want to put an end to Shun's suffering, but I still believed that there was a chance for him to pull through; we just had to have some hope.

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sorry for not uploading for a couple of days (chiropractor appointment, after school practice, and game) in that order. read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	9. Fatal Decisions

_Keith_

I was perched on the roof of the bunker, watching the zombies lumber about below. They paid me no mind since they were not smart enough to look up without a reason to. So, as long as I remained silent, they would go on about their business, never knowing that I was right above them.

A sigh escaped my lips. The bunker had started to become restless since Shun fell ill, and it made me believe that there could be a breaking point soon. The hatch on the roof swung open, and Mira stepped through the small door.

She held two glasses in her hands and said, "I thought you'd want something to drink." I smiled and took one of the glasses from her, and placed my index finger on my lips to signal for her to keep her voice down so she wouldn't attract the attention of the zombies down below.

Mira nodded and sat down next to me, and gazed down at the creatures, just as I had been doing a moment ago. "Hard to believe it's been almost a week since all of this mess started. Feels like it's been longer than that," she said under her breath. I had to agree

. A week went by faster than these past few days. One week so far, felt like it had been months, and even years. "How's Shun doing today?" I asked her quietly. It was a given that Shun was going to fall victim to this virus eventually; none of us just didn't know when.

"About the same as yesterday," she told me flatly. Anyone else would have already turned a long time ago after being infected, but Shun was apparently an exception to this. According to Alice, he had been injected with an antidote during the outbreak on Earth, and it was because of this antidote, that he had lasted this long.

So, none of us could really predict when it would finally take Shun and leave us no choice but to put an end to him; he would turn into a threat, after all. "I can't even begin to imagine how hard this must be for Alice," my sister said softly. I tried to think of myself in Alice's shoes, and the one person that I cared about more than anything else, was dying before my very eyes.

It wasn't a very pleasant thought, and the reality probably felt a hundred times worse than what I could make myself feel. I pushed those depressing thoughts away from my mind; they weren't going to help anyone. "What about Ace?" I asked, trying to keep the conversation from turning into a silence.

The mint-haired boy had been apprehensive since Shun and Alice's arrival at the bunker, mainly due to fear that the two may have been infected at the time. But now, with Shun fallen ill to the virus and slowly nearing the end of his time, Ace was on edge, prepping himself for whenever Shun would return from the dead and attack us.

Perhaps he wanted to keep everyone safe, and knew that the only other person that would put Shun down would be me, or he was only acting out of fear. It was hard to tell which. Mira sighed and told me, "He's still keeping watch over Shun in case he turns.

Although, he's at least keeping his distance from him and Alice." I smiled at the memory of Alice slapping some sense into Ace, but I had to admit that what he said was true. He said that it would be better to put Shun out of his misery now instead of later, but Alice also made a good point as well; we weren't going to kill the living.

I felt torn between the two ideals concerning this particular scenario. On one hand, I didn't want to watch somebody that I considered a friend and ally, to die slowly and painfully, but I also didn't want to be the one to kill somebody who was still alive, even if it's just barely.

I sighed and laid my crossbow across my legs in my lap. Just as I did that, a high-pitched shriek erupted from the streets below. Mira and I both look down and saw a survivor running, and being pursued by several zombies. The ones that had been wandering about below, now turned their heads to the site of a meal.

Drool started to drip from their mouths as they hurried to surround the girl. She screamed and tried to run, but quickly realized that she was surrounded with hardly any hope of escape. I raised my crossbow up and aimed an arrow at one of the zombie's heads, then slowly lowered the weapon back down.

"Why didn't you shoot, Keith?" Mira asked me while staring in horror as the zombies ripped into the girl. "There's too many of them. Shooting them in order to try and save that girl would only be a waste of arrows," I said grimly. I hated myself for not being able to help, but I had to put the priority of our group first.

Besides, there was no guarantee that I could have saved this person. She could have been bitten and infected, or she could have been dangerous and a traitor. Overall, there were too many negatives and not enough positive to saving her.

The zombies finished with their feast, and went on their way, clearing out the street in front of the bunker and leaving it empty and desolate; the only thing that remained, were the leftovers from the girl. I narrowed my eyes at what was left of the body; there couldn't be enough left of her to come back as a zombie.

Mira asked me, "What are you thinking?" I set my crossbow down beside my feet and said, "I'm thinking that she might have had some sort of weapon on her. I think I'm going to go down there while the streets are empty and check." Mira stared at me as if I had gone insane.

"You've got to be kidding me!" she said rather loudly. I quieted her down and told her, "I'm not. We need more weapons, and anything we can get our hands on counts. I promise I'll be fine, Mira." She didn't look convinced, but she obviously knew there was no point in trying to stop me.

I stood up and opened the roof's hatch, then went down the ladder one rung at a time. Then, I made my way towards the steel door that kept the flesh-eating monsters on the outside of the bunker. "Hey, what do you think you're doing, Keith?" Ace asked curtly.

The mint-haired boy's gray eyes were narrowed at me in a scrutinizing fashion. "Some zombies killed a person out there, and while they're gone, I'm going to see if the victim had any weaponry on them. I'll be back in no time." I was reaching for the knob, but Baron's voice stopped me before I touched the handle.

"I-I….I want to go out there too….I w-want to see it," he said sheepishly. I was surprised by his request. Baron, who had watched all of his family die before his eyes, had refused to so much as step near the door of the bunker, much less even go outside. We all had assumed that he would live out the remainder of his life in this bunker, as long as it wasn't overrun with zombies.

I told him, "I don't mind you coming with me, Baron. I could use an extra set of eyes out there." Baron nodded and joined my side. I opened the door and stepped outside. The ripped apart body was a short walk from the door, which was a good thing if one looked at it from our perspective.

We could get back to the bunker quickly, if need be. Baron followed me over to the body, and I noticed his eyes widened a bit. I had to admit, the sight of the body was a gruesome one, and not for those who may have been faint of heart. For a moment, I thought Baron was going to be sick, and he might have if he hadn't turned and faced away from the body.

"I think I've seen enough," he said shakily. I knelt down beside the body and said, "It's alright, Baron. I wasn't expecting you to look at it for very long." I began to search over what was left of the girl's clothing, hunting for anything from a knife to a small gun.

Towards her foot and inside of her boot, I found a medium sized dagger; it didn't even appear to have been used. I slipped the knife into my back pocket and continue to scan over her for anything else. When I couldn't find anything else, I stood up and brushed myself off.

Baron tapped my shoulder with a trembling hand, and when I turned to see what he wanted, I followed his pointed finger and saw a hoard of zombies shuffling towards us. "Quick! Inside!" I snapped and ran for the door. I ran inside and Baron followed shortly after me, and I saw him push the door shut.

The pink-haired boy leaned against a wall and started to take in deep breaths so he could calm himself down. "I'm not going out there ever again. I'm not going out there ever again." He kept repeating that over and over again. Alice, who had been in the sleeping quarters, walked into the main room, looking somewhat confused.

"What's with all the fuss?" she asked. She had been back in the sleeping quarters because that was where Baron and I had recently relocated Shun to, and since then, that had been where she stayed unless she had no choice but to leave his side.

I told her, "It's nothing to worry about." She nodded, and was about to walk back to the sleeping quarters when Mira dropped a dish from inside the bunker's kitchen. Alice asked, "Do you need some help, Mira?" My sister responded with, "No, I've got it."

The rooms quickly fell silent, but that was quickly broken by the sounds of moans outside. We all turned and looked towards the door. There, I saw something I hadn't noticed when Baron and I ran back into the bunker; he didn't close the door all the way to where it would lock.

The head of a zombie pushed through the door, and when its dead eyes locked on us, it bared its teeth and pushed the door open. It extended its arms out in order to grab Alice. The orange-haired girl stood there, completely immobilized in fear. The zombie was just about to reach her, when Ace quickly stepped in and swung the blade of his hand ax into the back of the creature's skull.

It dropped to the ground and didn't make another move. "The door! Shut-" I was cut off mid-sentence by what I saw. The hoard that had been walking down the street towards our bunker, was now starting to poor inside. Ace swung the ax and took out several of the slow-walking creatures before he got to the point of where he couldn't hold them back.

"There's too many!" he shouted and stuck the ax into another skull. I ran down the hall and lowered down the ladder to the roof. Standing a few rungs up, I shouted, "Everyone! Climb!" Baron and Mira quickly scurried up the ladder. Alice was about to go up, then stopped.

"Shun! We can't just leave him here! Those things will get him!" She was about to run to the sleeping quarters for him, but I gripped her wrist and stopped her. "Alice! Climb! We don't have enough time to get him!" I snapped, feeling that our limited amount of time was running out.

Alice looked up at me, tears forming in her eyes. She then blinked them away and said in a sturdy voice, "You're….You're right, Keith." I didn't like to admit it, but there wasn't any point in taking Shun with us onto the roof. He was going to die and turn into one of those things anyway.

"Ace! That's enough! Get to the roof!" I shouted. Ace, who was being pushed back by the increasing numbers of the hoard, chopped off one more head and ran up the ladder. I then followed up and slammed the hatch to the roof closed.

Immediately, I ran for the crossbow I had left on the roof earlier, and joined the others. Ace and I stood ready to fight if those things broke through the hatch, which, at the moment, it looked like they might at any moment. Down on the streets below, the massive hoard caught my eye.

Hundreds of zombies were pushing their way into the bunker, and I knew that there was no way that we could have possibly fought them all off and taken our temporary home back. "Keith!" Mira shouted over to me.

I look at her and saw she had found an escape rope ladder. We lowered the rope down to the ground, and thankfully, there were no zombies below. One by one, we hurried down and the moment our feet touched the ground, we ran as fast as we could.

_Shun_

There was screaming and shouting in the main room, but I was too weak and tired to call out and ask what was going on. In my mind, I started to fear that somehow, the zombies might have broken in. With that thought, I worried about them getting a hold of Alice.

If they did, then I would have broken my promise to protect her. Determined to keep this vow that I had made many years ago, I tried to force myself to sit up, but didn't get very far. I nearly blacked-out when trying to sit up, and I fell back down on my cot.

The virus had left me weak beyond comprehension, and I actually wished that it would hurry up and take me so I wouldn't have to suffer anymore. But at that moment, I wanted to know what was going on in the bunker. I turned my head to the side and looked towards the door. It was then slowly pushed open, and I thought for a moment that it was Alice.

About to ask what was going on, my words caught in my throat and I was left silent when I saw it wasn't her, but rather, a zombie. My heart began to speed up at the sight, and I knew that I was as good as lunch; I was too weak to run or fight, leaving me completely defenseless and at this creatures mercy.

The zombie, breathing heavily, making a gurgling a sound from somewhere deep in its throat. It then began to lumber over towards me, its head and eyes looking around the room as if examining his surroundings. He then stopped beside me, and loomed over my weak and ailing body.

It then brought its face near mine and sniffed me for a second. All during this, I had my breath held and eyes shut as I braced myself for it to sink its teeth into my flesh. But that never happened. Instead, the zombie let out a huff of air and stumbled out of the room. I laid there, utterly shocked and confused. Why didn't that zombie kill me?

* * *

back. it wasnt easy for me to figure out how to transition into this, but i'm pretty pleased with it. what do you guys think? read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	10. The Strength To Go On

_Shun_

Still confused about my encounter with that zombie, I forced myself to sit up in my cot, nearly falling back several times. But when I finally was able to sit up, I found myself looking at the door that the zombie had just left out of after investigating the contents of the sleeping quarters.

I still wasn't sure what all had just happened. That zombie should have ripped me to shreds the moment he saw me. But he didn't. _Why? _A thought ran across my mind. What if it was because I was infected? Did they somehow know? Perhaps they could smell the virus on me.

Somewhere else in the bunker, I heard things being knocked around, signaling that there were still zombies inside. As I sat there, I thought of something; if one hadn't tried to eat me, would the others try? I swung my legs to the side, and my feet touched down on the cold, concrete floor.

I knew how weak I was, and I knew that I would be pushing myself way past a limit that I no longer had if I tried to walk. _But I can't just lay here and wait to die, _I told myself defiantly. Pushing myself up to my feet, I wobbled for a moment, but caught myself on a cot.

My legs were so weak, that they were trembling beneath my weight; it was clear that the virus had taken a lot out of me in a short amount of time. I mustered up my strength and forced myself to walk towards the door. When I finally reached it, I leaned against the doorframe and tried to catch my breath.

Something else dropped in a nearby room, and I glanced around the corner to see several zombies staring down at a can of food that had fallen onto the floor. They poked it and touched it with their hands to see if it was anything they could eat.

My eyes then caught sight of a baseball bat that Keith had placed in the hallway, in case we were ever infiltrated. Slowly, I made my way towards the bat, keeping my hand against the wall in order to steady myself. Already, I could feel myself growing weaker; I hardly had any energy to exert, so this was pushing my ailing body to its limits.

I reached for the bat and held on tightly to the handle. Would I even have the strength to even hurt one of these things? The three zombies turned and looked right at me, but never once charged. Their milky, soulless eyes cut right through me, and I saw my reflection within them.

I then swung at the one standing in the middle, sending his body tumbling towards the floor. Then, using the momentum from the first swing, I doubled back and caught the one that was standing behind me. Just like the previous one, he fell down as well.

Now, I stood there, trying my best to stay standing on my feet, while the last zombie stood there and gazed down at his two dead friends that had been with him. He then looked back at me, and only let out a moan. Gritting my teeth and tightening up my grip on the bat, I hit the reanimated corpse upside his head, sending reverberations of cracking bone throughout the bunker.

Due to the momentum from the swing, I lost my balance and fell down to my knees in the puddle of rotten blood that was starting to form. I was panting heavily, sweat running from my forehead from the fever that I still had. The edges of my vision started to turn fuzzy and black in the corners, but I shook it off.

I had to stay awake. I had to see if any of the others had made it out safely. Glancing around the bunker, there were no signs of their blood anywhere; only that of the three zombies I just killed. As I continued to look around, I noticed the ladder to the roof was down, and on the underside of the hatch, there were claw and scratch marks.

I then began to paint a mental image in my mind; the others ran to the roof, and the zombies had tried to claw their ways through to get to them. _At least they made it out of here, _I thought weakly. There was no guarantee that they were still alive now. But inside, I knew that Keith and Ace would end up doing anything they could to keep their group safe.

They were in good hands. I pushed myself back up to my feet, struggling to stay standing, and walked over to the pile of weapons in the corner of the main room. Almost the entire inventory was still there; minus Ace's hand ax and Keith's crossbow.

It was obvious that they didn't have enough time to grab what they could. Resting on the top of the pile, I saw my chain-whip and sword. I reached for them and hooked them to my belt loops with shaky hands. If I was going to even attempt to look for them, regardless if the zombies didn't want anything to do with me, I was going to be able to defend myself to my best extent.

I leaned my back against the wall for a moment as I gathered my thoughts and figured out my next move. I decided then, that I would try my best to either find Alice, or the madman that released this virus on another planet. Whichever came first.

I then coughed into my hands, and when I looked down at them, they were speckled with my blood. I sighed and wiped the blood off on the wall behind me. _I might end up dying before I find them though. _By the way my condition was progressing, I was surprised that I was still able to even stay awake.

Pushing my thoughts aside, I set my mind to the goals I had just made, and walked towards the steel door of the bunker that led outside. As I walked by, I saw that it had been ripped off one of its hinges, most likely from when the zombies had broken into the bunker.

Once I was outside, I shielded my eyes from the bright light of the sun. Being that I had been in that bunker for nearly a week, it took my eyes a moment to adjust to the sudden change. Once I was able to see, I lowered my hand and looked down the street.

It was filled with zombies lumbering about, staring blankly at anything and everything. I sighed and walked through the crowd of walking corpses. Not a one of them paid any attention to me, even though it looked like they were staring at me.

The fact that they didn't want anything to do with me because they could tell I was infected, made the whole thing a bit more surreal. It kept reminding me that my time was limited, and that I would sooner or later end up turning into one of these things.

I cringed at the thought of being a mindless beast and hurting innocent people out of a so-called 'instinct.' All I hoped was, that when I did turn, that I never ran into Alice or any of the others.

_Alice_

We finally stopped running after what felt like an hour, and my legs were feeling the wear and tear from it. I rested my hands on my knees and panted heavily as I tried to stabilize my breathing. Most of the others were doing the same.

Once I was calmed down, I sat down on the ground and brought my knees up to my chest. I still hated that we had left Shun back at the bunker, but as Keith had told me, there was no point in risking our lives for his, since his life was as good as over thanks to the virus.

It still pained me though, to know that Shun was probably going to die, or was already dead. Keith, who had just finished catching his breath, straightened up and slung his crossbow over his shoulder. "Hurry up and finish resting. It isn't safe to stay out in the open like this," he said flatly.

Our group had ducked into an alley in order to try and provide ourselves some cover from any zombies that may have been wandering about on the streets. Mira wiped a bead of sweat from her brow and asked her brother, "What weapons were we able to bring with us?" He motioned towards his crossbow with his chin and said, "This, a knife, and Ace's hand ax is all I know of."

Three weapons. That was it. True, two of them were being used by Keith and Ace, two very skilled fighters when they needed to be. But it left the rest of us virtually defenseless. Keith sighed and told us, "Alright. Let's keep moving until we get out of the city. Maybe there will be fewer zombies in the more rural parts of Vestal."

I stood up and we started to follow, but had to stop cause Baron stood frozen in his spot. His eyes were cast down at the ground, wide and tear-stained. "We're going to die out here, aren't we?" he said in a trembling voice. I felt a pang of sympathy towards him, and I walked over to place my hand on his shoulder.

He flinched back at my touch. "Don't tell me that we aren't going to die! You all are thinking that same thing!" he shouted, sending tears cascading from his eyes. Baron had already been through so much since this virus invaded Vestal; he lost his family and his home.

Now, he had lost the only place he felt safe in. "Baron, calm down," Mira said sternly, but I could tell she was trying to be gentle with the unstable boy. He shook his head and shouted, "No! I'm not going to calm down! We're going to be eaten alive out here! How do you expect me to be calm!"

I placed my index finger over lips and told Baron, "Shh! You're being loud and will draw attention to our whereabouts." He ran his hands through his short, pink hair and snapped, "What's it matter? We're going to be killed in the end…."

I stepped in front of Baron and wrapped my arms around him in a hug. "Don't say that, Baron. Shun and I thought the same thing back on Earth, but we made out alive. I'm sure we can all do it again," I whispered into his ears while trying to hold back my own tears.

I felt Baron's shoulders relax, and he then buried his face into my shoulder and cried. My eyes had been closed while I was consoling him, and when I opened them, I saw a zombie running down the alley towards us. "Watch out!" I shouted and pulled Baron down to the ground to get him out of the way.

He realized what was going on, and started to crawl back to the others. I was starting to run as well, but felt the zombie's hands grab my hair. I screamed and flailed my arms, but couldn't reach him since he was behind me.

Another one of its hands reached around and grabbed onto my arm, and I could feel its vile breath slithering down my neck as it readied itself to bite me. "Help!" I shouted and closed my eyes tightly as I braced myself for the teeth to sink it.

A loud explosion then echoed through the alley, and something shot past me and into the zombie's head. Everything went in slow motion as I glanced over and saw the blood shooting out of a small, circular hole above the zombie's eye.

Things then returned back to normal, I and watched the monster drop to the ground. My heart was racing and beating frantically when I turned back to look at the others. At first, I thought it might have been Keith who had saved me, but I saw that he hadn't even gotten an arrow loaded into the crossbow.

Then, I looked over and saw Baron holding a pistol in his trembling hands. His eyes were widened with fear, and he dropped the gun to the ground, then fell to his knees. Keith knelt down beside the trembling pink-haired boy and picked up the pistol. "Where'd you get this at?" he asked while examining over the firearm.

Baron, who still looked traumatized, said quietly, "I-I took it f-from my house w-when the z-zombies came. I-I was only g-going to u-use it if I h-had no choice. S-Sorry that I n-never told you a-about the gun, K-Keith." Keith tucked the gun away in his back pocket and patted Baron on the shoulder.

"It's no big deal, Baron. You did good just then, but maybe I should hold onto this until you calm down or feel like you'll be able to use this more often than only when you've got to." Baron wiped a tear from his eyes and nodded. I had finally calmed down a bit myself and walked over to Baron.

Just like Keith, I knelt down beside him and smiled sadly. "Thanks for saving me, Baron." He nodded and told me, "It's t-the least I c-could do."

I then helped him up to his feet just as Keith told us, "That gunshot probably attracted some more of those things towards this way. We need to keep moving and try to find a place to set up camp for tonight." None of us argued and began to follow Keith's lead.

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_chapter title based off the song The Strength To Go On by Rise Against _sorry for not uploading recently. i've just been rather lazy lately. :/ i should be back to my usual stuff now. read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	11. Revelations

_Dan_

When I woke this time, I found that my hands had been tied to the railing of my bed. I struggled against the restraints, and quickly realized that there was no point in trying to free myself with just sheer strength. I let out a heavy sigh and stared up at the brightly lit white ceiling.

How much longer would I have to be in this horrible place? This place was not a peaceful one. It was nothing more than a bunch of people with some serious problems. They were experimenting on me and the others, injecting us with all kinds of serums to keep us from turning back into the zombies that we once were.

From what Layfair told us, and what I could gather, this serum they were working on now, was meant to restore dead and damaged tissues and organs. Then, it would turn back around and bring the host back to life. I saw firsthand how it worked in the field when they revealed a caged person, and the person had turned back into a zombie.

And after one simple injection of their latest batch, he reverted back to what they called 'normal.' They even injected it back into me and the others when our skin started to turn back to the color of rot and decay. Now that the others were on my mind, I turned my head and saw them laying on their examining tables beside me.

As far as I knew, not a single one of them had woken up yet. My eyes fell on the one closest to me, which was Runo. I noticed that her cheek right under her eye twitched, and then they slowly opened. She blinked a few times as her eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness, and she began to look around and take everything in.

"Runo!" I whispered over to her. She turned and saw me, her eyes widening with surprise to see me tied down to my bed. Runo jumped off of her examining table and ran over to me, where she proceeded to untie my restraints. "Dan? What's going on? Where are we?" she asked while freeing me.

It then occurred to me that she and others were probably like me when I first came to; they didn't remember any of what happened to us. I sat up and rubbed my wrists where the ties had been. Runo was still looking around the room, her eyes taking in as much as she could.

"It looks like we're in a hospital," she said. I shook my head and said coldly, "This is far from a hospital…..Runo, do you remember anything before you, um…..Fell asleep?" She stared at me for a moment, a hint of confusion in her eyes, then she placed her index finger on her chin while she thought.

"I….I can't remember anything," she finally said. "Do you know what happened?" I remembered very clearly what happened. The only problem was, would she believe me if I told her the truth? "I do, but first, wake Murucho and Julie please. They need to be…Caught up as well."

I was trying to put all of this into words as best as I could, and it was proving to be very difficult. Runo nodded and ran over to Julie and Murucho, where she proceeded to wake them. They did the same thing she had; sit up and look around, utterly lost as to where they were and what was going on.

Runo motioned for them to follow her, and she led them back over to me. "Alright, Dan. I woke them up. Now, tell us what's going on," she said stubbornly. Taking in a deep breath, I asked them the same thing I had Runo when she woke up.

When they shook their heads, I knew that I would most likely have to go back from the start. "We all died," I said bluntly. This got a humorless laugh out of them, but when they saw that I was serious, they slowly began to realize that I wasn't kidding with them.

"How could we have died if we're standing right here?" Julie asked. I motioned around to all of the lab equipment and such that was around us. "This place, it's some kind of lab or something like that. The people here are developing a serum that brought us back…Well, temporarily for right now. But they're also the reason that we were all killed."

The three of them didn't appear to be following what I was saying the least bit. "Dan, if what you're saying is true, then how did we die?" Murucho asked while pushing his glasses up on the bridge of his nose. I turned to face Julie and sighed. "Julie, do you remember being bitten by anything before you fell asleep? If not, then what is the absolute last thing you can remember?"

She stood there for a moment while thinking my question over. Finally, she told me, "I remember being over at Shun's house for his birthday. And….." Her voice trailed off, and I could see that something was coming back to her. "And what, Julie?" I asked, trying to hurry and get the answer out of her.

I remembered how all of us died, but things would go easier if they remembered as well, instead of me having to tell them all of the details and just believing what I was saying.

"And….I remember this girl. She looked sick, almost dead. We all thought there might have been something wrong with her, so you went out to go and check on her, Dan. Then, she chased after you and…She bit me. That girl bit my leg, and Shun hit her with something and killed her."

Julie stood there, her face almost drained of all of its color as she remembered the moments before her death. "Is there anything else?" I asked in order to see how far she could remember. Perhaps she didn't want to press any further in her memories.

"I remember not feeling well a little bit afterwards. The rest is a blank. Dan? Do you know what happened after that?" she asked quietly. I nodded and told her, "You died and came back as a zombie because you were infected with the virus via the bite from that girl. Shun had to put you down before you hurt anyone."

Julie stumbled back and sat down on the examining table that Runo had been on, her face showing signs of being stunned by the revelation. "I….I remember it now. All of it," she said in a shaky voice. Runo, who had been looking at Julie, slowly turned to face me.

"That can't be true. Julie didn't turn into a 'zombie' and I know Shun wouldn't have done anything to hurt her," the bluenette said defiantly. I turned and asked her, "What do you remember, Runo?" She appeared to be caught off by my question, but she answered it anyway.

"When Julie mentioned that we were at Shun's, I remembered that. But I don't recall anything about her turning into a zombie, or Shun killing her." Murucho had his head lowered and eyes cast down. "I remember what happened to me," he said quietly.

"Dan's right about what happened to Julie. After that, I recall that we left to try and make it to my mansion and use my jet to got to Moscow and use Dr. Michaels' transporter to leave. Shun stayed behind to distract some of the zombies outside of his house while we took a care and left, but Runo was bitten when we wrecked the car and had no choice but to abandon it."

He paused right there and took in a breath, then continued on with his recollection. "After that, Shun showed back up and saved us, and we ran down into the sewage systems to get away. Runo was starting to turn and we had no choice but to leave her in the tunnels since you refused to let Shun kill her, Dan."

I was surprised by how much Murucho remembered, but it made since seeing how smart he was. Maybe it was his genius mind that was allowing him to remember all that he had forgotten. Runo was standing there, and looked unable to process what the short blonde was saying.

"You mean…..I turned into one of those things?" she asked in a shocked tone. From looking into her eyes, I could see that some of it was coming back to her. "Yeah. And I talked Shun out of killing you. Are you remembering it now?" I asked her.

She tilted her hand back and forth and said, "A little. It all seems familiar." Turning back to Murucho, I told him, "Keep going, buddy." He nodded. "We then left Runo and went deeper into the tunnels, and while we were sleeping, Runo….She found us and…Started to eat me alive," he said with a wavering voice as he relived the last moments of his life.

The horrible moments of discovering that he was being eaten by one of his very own friends, were plastered all over his face. Runo clamped a hand over her mouth and ran over to a metal trashcan in the corner of the room, where she began to throw up.

Slowly, I approached her from behind. "I take it you remember now?" I asked gently. She held her hair out of the way with her trembling hands and said, "I-I do. Everything. I remember everything. Even when I was…eating Murucho."

She bent over and hurled into the trashcan once again. I knelt down beside her and rubbed her back. "Hey, it's alright. That's way behind us now. Besides, you have no control over what you did after you were bitten." I decided it was best if I didn't tell her how she had died after that.

It had been Shun who had put her down as well. I recalled the event very clearly, since I had also seen my own life flash before my eyes during the time. Runo had finished eating on Murucho and snuck up behind me, and was about to bit me, when Shun stuck his sword into her skull right before she could do so.

At the time, I had thought that he was going to attack me, since we were in the middle of an argument about what to do with our zombified friend. I helped Runo up to her feet and walked her back over to where the others were still standing. "I'm sorry, Murucho. I didn't mean to….Do what I did," she told the short blonde.

He smiled sadly and told her, "I know, Runo. I'm not holding anything against you." He then turned to face me and asked, "What about Shun and Alice? Do you know what happened to them? If anything?" I ran a hand through my brown hair, which had gained considerable length in my time asleep.

"The last thing I remember, is that they made it to the jet and left for Moscow. Whether they got the transporter working and left Earth is beyond me, seeing as how I died when we reached the jet. So, I don't know if they're still alive, dead, or what."

Now that we were all mostly caught up with what had happened up until now, we could start focusing on what our next move was. "We need to get out here, the only problem is, that after a while, we'll die again and just fall apart as the serum wears off," I informed them.

Julie then suggested that we just take us several vials of the serum, but I responding to that idea by saying, "I don't know where they're keeping the vials. And I have a feeling that if we try and leave this place, bad things will happen to us. Well, worse things than what's happening to us now."

From behind us, a door flung open, causing the metal to crash against the wall and send a loud echo throughout our room. Standing in the doorway at the top of a staircase, was Layfair. I then leaned over and whispered to the others, "That's the guy that's responsible for everything. The virus on Earth, all of our deaths, and the experiments on us."

It then occurred to me that this was probably also the guy that had kidnapped Shun after he left the mansion, and started to do their own experiments on him in order to find an antidote. They had succeeded, but it nearly took Shun's life.

I remembered how weak and sickly he had been after he escaped from their lab, which had been overrun by zombies. A thought then crossed my mind; how did this guy survive getting out of his lab, when Shun clearly stated to me that he was sure that everyone inside had been slaughtered by the zombies.

Layfair folded his arms behind his back and walked down the stairs one step at a time. A sly grin was plastered on his face. "I see the rest of you finally woke up. How have you all enjoyed your six year nap?" All of our eyes widened. Even I had no idea how long we had been asleep.

"Six years?!" Murucho exclaimed. Layfair nodded and told us, "A lot has happened while you all were resting." _I hardly call that resting. More like a coma. _I then remembered my previous realization and blurted out, "How did you survive your lab being overrun! We were told that you and everyone else were eaten alive!"

Layfair's smile vanished and his eyes narrowed. "Now, how did you know of my lab being overrun? I don't ever recall you being there at the time." My hands tightened into fists and I snapped, "You kidnapped one of my friends and used him as a guinea pig for your antidote."

Layfair tilted his head to side, closed his eyes, and scratched the back of his neck as he thought. "Hm. One of the antidote experiments, huh? They all died except. Ah! I remember who you're talking about. Number 388, wasn't it? Yes. How could I forget to success of the antidote so easily? Silly me. I'm surprised that he made it out of the lab. Oh, well. I've gotten off topic from your question."

He finally reached the bottom step and started to walk towards us. In return, the four of us took several steps back. "When I first realized that the lab was being overrun, I injected myself with the antidote, despite the fact that I wasn't sure whether or not it was entirely safe or not. That way, if I was bitten, I wouldn't turn. Although, several of those creatures took a few chunks out of me, and the antidote was unable to heal the wounds quick enough."

He then lifted his shirt up and exposed his abdomen. There, were craters in his skin where muscles and flesh were missing, but the skin had healed over.

"Infection started to set in, and the antidote wasn't able to regenerate what I had lost, and this was the extent of how much I could heal. There are other parts on me just like this, maybe even worse. But even in my weakened state, I was able to fight through it and got out of the lab. Shortly after that, I noticed a jet leaving out of the city, and commandeered a helicopter from a police station that I was holed up in, and followed."

As he spoke, a mental image started to form in my mind. He got out of his lab and took shelter so he could lick his wounds, while we all thought he was dead. And while he was hiding out, he saw Murucho's jet leave, and he followed after them. Layfair then continued his story.

"When I landed, I found myself somewhere in Moscow. The jet had landed next to some abandoned looking lab, and when I went inside, I found a transporter. And after playing around with it for a bit, I was able to go to the last location traveled, which was this place called Vestal."

"So, I went and found this old building complex and renovated it into my new lab, where I began on working with a new formula to restore my mangled body. During that time, I recruited some assistants to help me, and sent them back to Earth to gather some 'cadavers' to test our serums on to make sure the altered form of the virus would work."

"You four were among the ones brought back, and were the only ones that had accepted the serums longer than any other subject. So, we've been looking at every DNA strand you have to see what makes the serum last longer inside of you, than it does anyone else. And once we figure out what it is, and with a few alterations, I'll have my serum. The power of immortality will be in my hands, and my hands alone."

The four of us stood there, completely dumbfounded by what had just been elaborated before us. None of us were really sure what to make of this.

Of course, shock was on the list, but were there really enough emotions out there to sum up what we should have been feeling? But I was able to catch one thing that he had said; he locked the transporter onto the last place traveled to, which was Vestal.

We had all used the transporter and gone to other places way after our time in New Vestroia, meaning that Shun and Alice had made it here to Vestal after all. Layfair began to talk again, which in turn, snapped me out of my thoughts.

"But while I was working on this new serum, a thought came into my mind. Since I felt that we're so close to completing the formula that will bring the dead back as normal, living beings, I released a new strand of the virus in Vestal to try and create a scenario. Once the serum is completed, and we know for a fact that it will revert the zombies back to normal, I'll make a fortune by selling the virus to other worlds and countries as a biological weapon, and if the victimized worlds want the cure, they'll have to pay a hefty price for the cure. In the end, I will be the winner while the universe crumbles beneath me."

Layfair's lips turned up into a twisted smile, but his eyes showed a man that was appeared to be completely sane. "Now, I think I've done my job as the host by informing you all of what's going on. So, I must take my leave. Enjoy your stay here for the time being, for it's much safer in here than it is outside."

He then walked back up the stairs and closed the steel door behind him. On the other side, I heard gears turning and locking the door in place so we couldn't escape. All of us stood there, gaping at the door, truly shocked at what we had just discovered. And in my shock, I realized something else; Shun and Alice were fighting the apocalypse once again.

* * *

writing this and listening to the last two Resident Evil soundtracks, makes this all the more awesome :D i think i finally found my artist to listen to for this story (yup, i listen to different bands for different genres i write, it just makes the inspiration flow more freely). well, i hope things didnt get too complicated up there in that chapter. so, read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	12. Stricken

_Alice_

Once again, our group stopped to take a much needed rest . Since the encounter back in the alley, we hadn't stopped running for hours. I was already tired from earlier, and now, I felt like I could have fallen asleep on the ground right then and there. But I knew that wasn't a good idea.

There were still zombies everywhere in the city, and around every possible corner. Until we were certain that we would be safe for an extended amount of time, stopping was out of the question. Baron was sitting down on the ground, his knees pulled up close to his chest, and his chin resting on them. His eyes were somewhere far away.

Feeling bad for Baron, I walked over to him and knelt beside him. "You okay, Baron?" I asked gently. He shrugged his shoulders and told me, "I guess so." Earlier, Baron saved my life. A zombie had tried to grab me from behind and bite me, and if it hadn't been for Baron, he would have succeeded.

Baron had pulled out a small hand pistol, which none of us knew he had, and shot the zombie right before it could sink its teeth into my shoulder. Perhaps at the time, I should have been thankful that Baron didn't miss his mark and shoot me, rather than the zombie, but that thought was the last thing on my mind.

All I was able to focus on was the fact that I had survived a close brush with the walking dead. I rested my hand on Baron's shoulder and told him, "It's going to be alright…..We're all going to be alright." Baron glanced up at me and asked, "How long do you think we'll have to keep running?"

That was a good question, seeing that it was obvious that there wasn't any safe havens nearby. "I don't know, Baron. I really don't know," I said flatly.

Odds were, if we were to take up a residency for the night, we would have to find us a somewhat secure building, clear out any zombies that may have been wandering about inside, and make it our new temporary home. But what if we walked into a building that was totally overrun, and they overwhelmed us?

We would be as good as done for. Taking that into account, it was too much of a risk to walk into some random building without knowing the contents that were inside. "Break time is over. Time to start moving again," Keith told us. I stood up and held my hand out to Baron.

He stared at it for a moment, then finally took it and allowed me to help him up to his feet. I was beginning to worry that Baron would start to refuse to go on, and might opt for just staying somewhere and wait for an impending death. But would he really do that?

Even in an end of the world scenario, life was still valued, and human nature was still human nature. In other words, people still would strive to live, and with that kind of mindset to keep on going, people can accomplish unbelievable tasks.

_Kind of like Shun, _I thought to myself. Back on Earth when he had been taken away as an experiment for the antidote that was being prepared underground, he had beaten the odds and escaped, despite his weakened state. And even after that, as the antidote nearly killed him, he was determined to pull through and get us to Vestal, which he did.

True, not everyone made it, but we did. And to me, that was an achievement on its own when one looked at the odds that were stacked up against us. It still felt so unreal to think that Shun was actually gone now. It didn't feel like he was, but when did after somebody's death, did it really feel like they had left?

And as much as I kept thinking about him, the more it felt like he was still alive, for perhaps my thoughts were keeping him in this world. Our group suddenly came to halt, and when I looked up ahead, I saw why. There was a lone zombie lumbering about through the alley.

She tilted her head up and sniffed then air, then slowly turned to look at us. Her hair was matted with dried blood, tangled from not being taken care of, and her clothes were torn into shreds from where she had probably been ambushed by a hoard of zombies when they infected her.

Slowly, she moaned and started to shuffle towards us. Keith raised his crossbow and started to take aim, but I stopped him. "No, Keith. I want to take this one down. Could you give me that knife?" I said while taking a stance at the head of the group.

Keith stared at me and asked, "Are you sure you want to do this?" I nodded. Back on Earth, I might have killed one or two zombies, so I didn't have much experience like the others. And seeing that Vestal was crumbling away like my old home did, I felt that I needed to be used to defending myself.

Keith bent over and pulled the knife out of his bootleg and handed it over to me. I took the handle in my hand and tightened my grip on the sharpened weapon. Taking in a deep and steady breath, I walked towards the zombie. She let out a gargling sound as she tried to run towards me, but her decaying leg made that difficult, and she was only able to shuffle.

When she was about three feet in front of me, I tightened my grip on the knife handle even more, and rammed the blade into her skull right behind her ear. Blood started to bubble out from the wound, and I tried to bury the knife deeper into the skull.

The zombie's movements started to cease, and she quickly became limp. I pulled out the knife and watched the corpse fall to the ground and not get back up. My clothes and arm were stained with her blood from where I had stabbed her.

Keith walked up beside me and said, "Good job. How about you keep that knife on you so you'll have something to defend yourself with?" I nodded and slid the blade underneath my belt that was around my waist. Ace then appeared by Keith's side.

The mint-haired boy looked up at the sky and said, "It'll be night soon. That will only make it more difficult to keep an eye out for zombies. We should really find some kind of shelter for the night." Keith nodded in agreement and said, "Alright. Everyone, keep your eyes out for somewhere we could stay the night at."

Our group started to move again, eyes looking around for both shelter and zombies. After walking for several minutes, we found ourselves towards the bad part of Vestal where crime had once ruled. Businesses and houses alike had iron bars bolted in front of the doors and windows.

Mira said quietly, "One of these places could work." The burglar-bars would ensure that no zombies could break through the windows and such, which gave me a bit of reassurance. We quietly stalked up to an old business and glanced inside through the windows.

It was difficult to tell what used to be sold there, seeing as everything was gone now, most likely stolen when the panic broke out. Keith readied his crossbow and said, "Ace, open up the door." Ace opened the door, and Keith slipped inside, crossbow ready and aimed at anything that might jump out at him.

"Hello?" Keith asked. Nobody appeared, signaling that the place was empty. He then motioned for us to hurry inside. None of us hesitated to get into our new place of safety. Keith began to rummage around through cabinets behind the register counter, and found a key, which he tossed over to Mira.

She caught the key and stared at it for a moment. "Lock the door," Keith told her. She realized what the key was for then, and ran over to the iron-barred door. I heard the key stick into the lock and the gears turn to where nobody could get inside. Keith and Ace had gone to check out the rest of the building and its storage rooms, just to make sure no zombies were locked up inside.

When they reappeared, Ace gave us a thumbs up to tell us all was good. "We'll check all the rooms for supplies in the morning. For now, let's rest up," Keith said calmly and set his crossbow down beside him.

There were no beds, and no blankets, which left us sleeping on the floor that night. But I didn't care. As long as I was able to rest with ease, I was perfectly content. Slowly, my eyes started to grow heavy, and I fell asleep on the floor.

_Shun_

I pulled the blade of my sword out of the head of a zombie, and stumbled back a bit as I lost my balance. It hadn't tried to attack me; it had no reason to. I had killed it because I was aggravated and tired. Plus, one less zombie was a good thing.

I stood over to dead corpse and panted. It was getting more and more difficult for me to even walk, and I knew it wouldn't be much longer before the virus took me. The only question was, when would it finally kick in? I was growing tired of the waiting game.

If turning into one of those things meant being free of the sickness that was plaguing me, then I wanted it to hurry up. But there was also the fact that I really didn't want to be one of those monsters. _It's not like I have a choice….._ I picked up my feet and drudged onward.

The more I thought about it, the less likely I felt that I was going to find Alice. Or anybody for that fact. All I had run across so far was zombies. Behind me, I heard a low moaning and turned to see a hoard was making their way through the streets. I stood there, my back turned to them, as the river of death flowed past me.

I had to admit, it was nice not having to worry about being torn to shreds by them since they knew I was infected and slowly turning into one of them. I turned slightly and glanced at the zombies that were lumbering by me. Their dead eyes stared off into nothing, and their mouths hung open, making them look even more simple-minded.

One that was heading towards me, stumbled on his ripped pants leg and tripped. It fell forward on the ground, and when it did, its upper teeth caught me in the calf of my leg, sinking into my flesh. I shouted in surprise and jumped back. Then, out of instinct, I swung the blade of my sword down and severed the fallen zombie's head.

Panicking and fearing that the hoard around me was about to turn and started attack me, I pushed my way through and out of the way. Now, I stood on the sidewalk and watched as they just kept on going. I then flinched and took in a sharp breath as the pain from the bite became more noticeable.

I found a bench nearby and sat down so I could examine my wound. The accidental bit had caught me right behind my knee, and the teeth had ripped down as the zombie continued its fall, leaving the back of my leg torn and exposed.

I grimaced as another wave of pain radiated from the bite. Suddenly, the world around me started to spin, making me nauseous to the point where I threw up. Sweat started to drip from my forehead and I could feel my fever spiking.

The bite had passed the infection onto me a second time, and I could already feel the double dose kicking in and start to take its toll. I leaned back against the bench and felt my mind starting to go completely out of it as the virus ravaged my body even further.

I knew at that point that I would end up turning quicker than I would have originally done. Shutting my eyes tightly as I dealt with the pain, I opened them back up and gasped. Standing in the middle of the street, was Dan. He looked perfectly normal, and not like zombies and blazing fire had taken his life.

"How could you have just let me die? Huh, Shun?" he asked. I blinked and said defiantly, "I didn't. You told me to let go. I had no choice. Dan, you were infected and we didn't have time to get you any help." The world around me was starting to tilt back and forth.

Dan then hissed, "Murderer. You killed me. Runo, Julie, Murucho. You killed us all, and you know it." I shook my head again as I dealt with the effects of the virus in order to try and stop everything from spinning. "No I didn't," I told him. Dan then yelled, "Yes, you did!"

I then shut my eyes tightly, and kept shaking my head. When I opened them back up, Dan was gone. Leaning back against the bench, I began to pant from fatigue, as if I had been running. _I was hallucinating, _I told myself as I realized that Dan hadn't been real.

I let out a long sigh and tried to stand. My legs wobbled beneath me, and I nearly fell to the ground, but caught myself on the seat of the bench. Once I was sure I was planted securely on my feet, I lumbered over towards the sidewalk and leaned against the window of a store. I then shifted my eyes and looked inside of the store.

A zombie was wandering around inside, obviously unable to figure out how to get outside. I then refocused my eyes, and saw my reflection in the window. My eyes had darkened even more, but what really caught me off guard, was my neck. On the right side of my neck, my skin was starting to turn a black and bluish color, just like a bruise.

_Or decay. _I watched as little by little, more of my neck started to change, as if the blackness was slithering its way up. I touched the area lightly, and was unable to feel my fingertips that were clearing making contact with my neck.

The area that was touched by the discoloration was dead to the point that I couldn't even feel my own touch. _It won't be much longer now. _With the double infection of the virus, it was clear as daylight that I wasn't going to last much longer. I took in a deep breath, and continued in the direction I had been going.

* * *

sorry for not uploading for a bit. seems like everything started to come up this week. -.-'' oh well. read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	13. Deterioration

_Alice_

The morning sunlight shot through the iron-barred windows, and hit me right in my eyes. I squinted my eyes at the sudden light, then slowly opened them. I sat up and rubbed the sleep away from my eyes and looked around. The others were still laid out everywhere and sound asleep, making me the only one who was awake at the time.

This place that we had taken refuge in was an old store of sorts. It was the safest looking place for miles, and had to do until morning arrived. But seeing as how safe it was, it might end up being used by us for a little bit longer than one night.

The iron bars that were bolted on the doors and windows gave an extra sense of security that hadn't been felt since we left the bunker. I stood up and walked over to the windows and peered through the iron bars. On the glass panes, there was blood smeared all on the outside, which none of us had noticed last night in the darkness.

I looked past the blood and out into the streets. There were several zombies lumbering about, completely unaware that we were locked up inside of this building. I watched them intently, observing how they acted and tried to picture Shun as one of those things.

While my focus was elsewhere, a hand slammed into the glass window right in front of me, causing me to scream. I jumped back and fell onto the ground, then looked up at the window. On the other side was a zombie. It grabbed onto the iron bars and pulled on them, but when he realized that that wasn't going to work, he started to gnaw at the bars, never once taking his eyes off of me.

I stared at the creature, shock still having somewhat of a control over my body. But when I finally snapped out of my trance, I reached for my belt and pulled out the knife that Keith had given to me, and aimed it towards the zombie that was on the other side of the glass.

My hands were trembling from where I had been previously startled by the creature slamming its hand onto the window. It continued to bit the iron bars, causing blood to pour from his mouth as the solid bar destroyed his teeth. A hand was then placed on my shoulder, causing me to jump and turn, knife ready to fight.

But when I saw it was Keith and not a zombie, I lowered the blade down and relaxed a bit. "It's ok. It can't get in here. You have no reason to be frightened," he told me stoically. I nodded and slid the knife back underneath my belt. My scream had apparently woken the rest of the group up, for they were all up and standing around.

Keith walked over to the check out counter, jumped up, and sat down next to the register. He said to us, "Alright, let's start looking around for anything we might be able to use. Food, water, weapons, and so forth. Anything that you think can be of some help to us, grab it."

We nodded and dispersed throughout the small store. I found the storage room and opened the door. Since Ace and Keith checked all the rooms for zombies that may have been locked up and found that there were none, I had no fear of something jumping out at me. The storage room was about ten foot by ten foot, and metal shelves lined each wall.

Using the light from the open door behind me, I began to examine the shelves. There was hardly anything on them, other than a few boxes that appeared to have been chewed on by mice. I continued to searched the shelves for something, anything. I finally found a plastic box that had not been touched by vermin, and grabbed it.

When I turned it over, I saw that it was a small first-aid kit. I took the kit with me and walked back to the main part of the store. Baron and Mira were there, but Keith and Ace were still searching for supplies. Laying on the floor, I saw the small pile of things that Baron and Mira found while they did their search, and I added my first-aid kit to the inventory.

As I looked over the pile, I saw that one of them found a couple of blankets and canned goods. The other found flashlights and extra batteries. "Aha!" The three of us turned to see Ace run back into the main room. He told us, "Come look what Keith and I found."

We chased after the mint-haired boy and found ourselves walking into an office. Keith was knelt down on the floor, and had several pump-action shotguns laid out in a row. In front of him, was a hollowed out compartment in the floor. He continued to dig in the hidden stash and pulled out several hand pistols as well, along with several boxes of ammunition.

"This is awesome," said Keith while checking each box of ammo in order to count how much we had. He then told us, "Help me get this into the other room." Mira, Baron, and I each took one shotgun and box of ammo, while Keith and Baron took the remainder.

We then set the weapons down in our pile of findings and stared down at it all. Some of the things were luxury items, such as the flashlights and blankets, but the first-aid kit and guns were a necessity now that we had them. Behind me, I heard a beating on the windows and saw that the zombie was still trying to bit his way through the bars.

There were also several zombies that had joined his side, and were trying to claw their way inside to get to us. I was also able to see behind them, and realized that more and more zombies were heading over here to see what all of the fuss was about.

"They'll have us surrounded in no time," Mira stated. One of the zombies' hands shot through the glass in between two of the iron bars. The owner of the hand flailed it around, thinking that it would be able to reach us. Shards of glass started falling from the newly made hole.

They may have broken the window, but they still couldn't get inside thanks to the bars. But just cause they couldn't get inside, didn't mean that they would leave. Those zombies would stay there as long as they knew food was inside, and if we were unable to leave, then they would end up starving us to death since we couldn't get out.

Keith picked up his crossbow and said, "I'll try and find a way onto the roof and start taking them out before anymore show up." He then ran off towards the back in order to find a ladder to the roof. More and more zombies began to pile up outside of the store, and they were pushing against the door and windows, breaking the glass in several more locations.

The metal bars started to groan under the force of the zombies that were pushing on them. Baron took a step back and said, "You think they'll break through?" Ace unhooked the hatchet from his belt loop and said, "If they do, then I'm ready for em."

Arrows started to shoot down from the roof and into the skulls of the zombies. Keith had finally made his way onto the roof. "I'm going to ask Keith if he needs any help," I told the others and ran off towards the back of the store, where I found the ladder.

I climbed up the rungs and lifted the door to the roof. The roof was crumbling and deteriorating away due to disrepair, and each step I took, made the already brittle roof crackle beneath my weight. Keith heard the noise I was making and turned around to see me.

He said, "Be careful. This roof isn't very sturdy." He then shot another arrow down below and I told him, "I came up here to see if you needed any help." Keith was loading another arrow when he told me, "I think I've got-" The edge of the roof he was standing on then gave way beneath him, causing him to fall.

"Keith!" I shouted and ran over to where the roof broke away. He was holding onto the edge while the rest of him dangled in the air. The zombies below started to look up and saw a meal right above them, and they extended their hands up to try and grab onto Keith. I held out my hand and said, "Quick, Keith!"

He started to reach for me, but the part of the broken roof he was holding onto, broke once again and he fell down into the growing sea of zombies. My eyes widened as I braced myself for them to rip him to shreds, but Keith quickly jumped to his feet and pushed his way through the corpses.

I then ran back down to the store below and said frantically, "Keith's out there! The roof caved in on him and he fell down where the zombies are!" Mira's eyes widened and her face drained of all its color. Ace gritted his teeth and ran over to where the cash register was and pulled out the set of keys.

He threw them to Baron, who was the closest to the door. "Unlock the door, Baron!" The pink-haired boy fidgeted with the keys for a moment and stuck it into the lock. Once the door was unlocked, Ace bolted outside with the hatchet in his hands ready.

The zombies that had once been crowding around the store, had now moved away as they pursued Keith. Mira still stood there, her hands covering her mouth as she dealt with the feelings of shock. She then appeared to snap out of it, and reached down to grab two of the hand pistols that we had found earlier, and ran outside to help her brother.

I pulled the knife out of my belt and started to run and help as well, but remembered Baron. He was standing there, trembling in fear. "Don't go, Master Alice! What if the zombies come back?" I glanced down at the shotguns and handed one to Baron.

He stared at it for a moment, then looked at me, as if waiting for me to explain what to do with it. "Use that to protect yourself, Baron. You have good aim, so I'm sure you'll be fine," I told him and ran out to help Keith and the others. I quickly found the others.

The zombies had started to corner them up against the wall. Ace kept swinging the hatchet into the skulls of any zombies that got near them, and Mira tried to her best to shoot, but it was clear that she didn't have the best aim, for about one out of every three shots she fired, actually hit the target.

Keith, who had apparently lost his crossbow during the fall, took one of the pistols from Mira and started to shoot. Several zombies fell, but I then heard the distinct click of an empty gun. I tightened my grip on the knife in my hand and ran towards them, stabbing zombies in their skulls from behind.

Once I pushed through the crowd, I ran up beside Ace and stood ready. I was shaking with adrenaline and fear, but I was determined to help protect my friends, something that I wasn't really able to do back on Earth.

_Shun_

I stopped to take a break from walking and leaned against a streetlamp pole. It was getting more and more difficult to breathe due to the fact that it felt like there were weights on my chest. I placed my hand over where my heart was while I tried to calm my breathing, and felt how sporadic and irregular my heart was beating.

I cringed as the pain in my bitten leg made itself known once more. The virus was wrecking my body faster after I was infected a second time. I brought my hand up to my neck and touched the part that was being killed by the infection.

More of my neck had started to turn into the bruise-like color, and it wouldn't be long till it started to spread past there. Up ahead, I heard the sounds of gunfire and shouting, and when I strained my eyes, I saw a hoard of zombies crowded together.

Curious, I pushed myself off of the streetlamp pole and made my way towards the commotion. When I got closer, I peered through the zombies and saw Ace, Keith, Mira, and Alice backed up against a wall and fighting off the hoard that was closing in on them.

They were doing a decent job of holding them back for the time being, but the gunfire and shouting was attracting more and more zombies from around in the city. Soon, they would be overwhelmed and ripped to pieces.

When I first left the bunker, I had made a promise to myself to try and find either Alice or the person responsible for releasing this virus, and right now, I had achieved one of my promises, and I wasn't about to let these creatures take that away from me. I pulled out my sword and whip-chain and began to cut through the hoard.

_Alice_

"There are too many!" Mira shouted while kicking one of the zombies in its head. Right now, we were barely holding them back, but it seemed like the zombies' numbers kept growing the more we cut them down. I stabbed the blade of the knife into the eye of a female zombie that had broken its ranks from the others

. She stumbled back, and as I tried to pull the knife out, it slipped through my hands and went flying off somewhere into the hoard. Now, the only weapon we had left was Ace's hatchet. The hoard was moving in on us, and Ace was starting to have trouble holding them all back.

"I don't think we're going to get out of this one, guys," he said in between heavy breaths. A zombie ran out from the hoard and came right at me. I felt my eyes widen and I pressed my back against the wall behind me. It was about to grab onto me, when a chain lashed out and wrapped around its neck, pulling it to a halt.

The chain then tightened and severed the zombie's head from its shoulders. A fountain of blood came spewing out from the headless corpse, showering us with the crimson liquid. The chain retracted back through the hoard, and I noticed that zombies started to drop to the ground in one area.

When I looked closer, I saw that their legs were being cut off, making it to where they couldn't walk and come after us. More zombies charged at us, and Ace did his best to get as many as he could. But he was started to get overpowered, and one was about to bit into his arm when a blade shot through the back of the zombie's head and out through its forehead.

The blade stopped a couple of inches short of Ace. We all stood there completely motionless when we saw who it was who had just saved Ace. It was Shun. He still had the sword stuck in the head of the zombie, and it almost looked like he was using the impaled corpse to hold himself up.

He then pulled the sword out, sending a geyser of blood into the air and causing the corpse to drop to the ground. Shun then turned around and started to cut the legs out from zombies back and forth. Ace joined his side and helped to mow them down as well.

Soon, none of the zombies were standing; most were either dead or unable to walk towards us. Shun stood there with the blade of his sword pointed to the ground, and a lone drop of blood dripped off the end of the blade. He was covered in the blood from the zombies.

It was like looking at a ghost. We all thought Shun was dead, but here he was, as alive as we were. Finally registering that he was truly alive, I ran to him and wrapped my arms around him in a hug, not caring that he was caked with the blood of the living dead.

"You're alive! My God, you're alive!" I shouted and tears started to run down my cheeks. Suddenly, his legs buckled and he dropped down to his knees. "Shun!" I shouted and knelt down beside him. I was unable to see his face due to his hair being in the way.

Ace shouted to me, "Watch out, Alice! He might be turning." I glanced back and saw that Ace had his hatchet ready in case Shun did attack us. "I'm not dead yet," Shun said darkly and looked up at us. His eyes were heavily glazed over, almost like that of the zombies.

Ace lowered the ax down to his side. I turned back to Shun and hugged him again, ecstatic that he was still alive. When I broke the hug, I noticed his neck. It was turning a bluish-black like a giant bruise. "Shun, your neck," I said and started to touch it.

He grabbed my wrist and stopped me. "Don't worry about it," he said flatly and stood up. Keith said to us, "Let's take him back with us to the store before more of those things show up." We nodded and hurried back to our hideout. Baron was standing outside the door, shotgun at the ready. He heard us coming and said with a smile, "You guys made it! Thank heavens!"

His eyes then widened when he saw me helping Shun walk. "Master Shun?! You're alive!" he shouted with surprise. We hurried back inside of the store, locking the door behind us. Shun limped over to the check-out counter and leaned against it in order to hold himself up.

He looked horrible. Keith took a bottle of water out of a case we found, and handed it and a paper towel to Shun. "Here. Clean yourself off a bit. I'm sure you don't want to stay covered in that blood." Shun took the water and poured it out onto the paper towel and wiped the blood off of his face and arms.

When the blood was wiped away from his arms, I saw that the same black coloration had started to make its way down his arm. _It's spreading, _I thought silently to myself. Shun turned slightly while cleaning the blood from his other arm, and I saw a bite mark on the back of his leg.

"You were bitten too?" I asked. Shun nodded and told us weakly, "Yeah. Yesterday." Mira spoke up and said, "I know it might not do much, but we can bandage it up for you. If you want us to, that is." Shun shrugged his shoulders. "I don't care," he said tiredly.

Mira looked over to me, and I shook my head, not sure what to say. At first, I thought we had gotten Shun back. But now, I felt like I had been wrong.

* * *

beh. why does it have to be sunday? i dont wanna go to school tomorrow. DX whyyyyyyy!? read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	14. Fly-Over

_Alice_

Mira was bandaging the bite on the back of Shun's leg. He sat quietly while she finished wrapping the gauze, and scanned over our new hideout. "What kind of supplies do you guys have?" he asked hoarsely. Keith, who was repairing damage done to his crossbow from his fall off the roof, told him, "A first-aid kit, some blankets, water, canned food, and a couple of weapons."

Shun nodded and returned back to a state of silence. My eyes fell back over to Keith. He was waiting for Mira to finish treating Shun's injuries so she could get to his own. His leg was propped up on a chair; the fall had either sprained or fractured his ankle, and Keith wasn't too thrilled about it.

He and Ace were the ones who protected to group, and to be hurt meant that he might not be able to keep us safe. But whether he was injured or not, I felt that Keith was still a valuable asset. Mira snipped the excess bandage away and said, "There. All done."

Shun quietly thanked her, and she hurried over to her brother's side, where she began to check over his ankle. Mira might not have been able to shoot very well, but she knew a few things about medicine, which was a very good thing when one of us got hurt.

Keith flinched when Mira touched his swollen ankle. "Quit being such a baby," she told him while tying an ace-bandage around the injured area. He narrowed his eyes at her, but quickly realized that there was no point in even trying to say something back.

Taking my attention away from them, I turned it back on Shun. The gauze around his calf muscle was already starting to turn red with blood. Baron, who had been standing by quietly, finally asked the question that had been on all of our minds.

"Shun, how did you exactly get out of that bunker? There were way too many zombies for even you to fight through." All eyes were locked on Shun as we awaited his explanation. He gazed down at the tiled floor and told us, "Apparently, those things can tell when somebody is infected…They didn't even so much as run at me while in the bunker, or while I was wandering through Vestal…..It's like they can smell the virus."

I never thought the zombies would be smart enough to detect who was infected and who was not. Then again, that would explain why they never attacked and tried to eat each other. Ace, arms crossed over his shoulders, asked, "If they don't try and attack you, then how did you get that bite on your leg?"

Ace's gray eyes were narrowed at the bloody bandage. "One tripped and fell, and when it did, its teeth caught me. That bite ended up infecting me twice…," his voice trailed off after that. Shun was infected twice? With that said, I was starting to wonder how he was still able to sit up on his own.

He already looked paler than normal, and like he was becoming emaciated from the virus. But if he hadn't been bitten, would that have meant that Shun would live a little bit longer? Most likely. Regardless, his time was limited when he first showed signs of being infected.

A still silence fell over the room, but was broken after a bit. Keith, who was still being tended to, spoke up and told Shun, "We didn't want to leave you behind, but we were pressed for time to get out of there without being bitten." Shun looked up at the spiky-haired blonde, and gave him a single nod.

"I know," he said quietly. I could see that Shun didn't think that we abandoned him back at the bunker without a second thought. He probably knew that we took into account that he was infected, and on death row as it was. I walked over to where Shun was at and sat on the check-out counter beside him.

"I'm just glad that we have you back," I told him. _Even if it's only for a little while, _I added silently. Shun smiled weakly at me and said, "Yeah. Me too." I glanced down at his arm and saw that more of it was turning to a bluish-black color, along with a bit more of his neck.

I was sure that more of his body was becoming discolored as the virus ravaged him, but I didn't want to know how much. Shun coughed into the crook of his arm, leaving a tiny red spot of blood behind. A hollow feeling formed in my chest when I saw him like this.

This was far from the person he used to be, making the reality of his allotted time all the more profound. "So," Ace started, obviously trying to bring our thoughts to something else. "How bad is it out there?" Baron nodded and added, "Yeah. We only ran through the alleyways, so we didn't see very much of what was going on in the city."

Shun's eyes shifted over towards the iron-barred windows. Sighing, he told us, "It's how you'd think it'd be. The city's overrun with those things, that's about it." The silence returned once more, and during that time, we heard something that sounded like the cutting of helicopter blades from above.

All of us looked around, confused by what was going on. "Do you think the military is finally stepping in?" Baron asked. Shun narrowed his eyes and said, "The military has probably been gone since the outbreak, just like everything else. Odds are this is just some survivors that found a helicopter."

The roaring of the chopper-blades continued to buzz around outside and above the buildings. "Well, if they're survivors, shouldn't we try and flag them down? They might help us," Ace suggested. Shun shook his head. "You can only trust other survivors as far as you can throw them," he said flatly, "Alice and I found that out the hard way."

I cast my eyes down and nodded, remembering the awful experience back at Murucho's mansion. One of the survivors there turned against everyone, tried to kill Dan, threatened me, and released a hoard into the mansion, which took the lives of everyone except Shun and I.

"He's right. When something like this happens, you can only trust those that are close to you…..And even then…..You still have to keep your guard up," I said sadly. At one point during the outbreak on Earth, Shun started to lose his control and humanity, nearly becoming a threat to all of us.

In fact, he ended up killing one person, but that was right before he was taken away as an experiment. I cringed at the memory of those dark times, and hated that we were now having to go through them again. I leaned my head against Shun's shoulder, feeling fatigue taking over after the long day that we had been through.

As I laid there, I was able to feel Shun's body heat. He was burning up with fever, one much higher than what he had back at the bunker before we were forced to leave. I then reminded myself that he had been infected another time during the time we were separated from each other.

Sneaking a glance at him, I saw that he was struggling to hold his eyes open. When was the last time he took a rest? Before we left the bunker? Knowing Shun, I was probably right. "You should get some sleep," I told him. Keith chimed in and added, "We all should. It's been a long day for everyone."

I pointed to one of the blankets that we found this morning, and asked Baron to bring it over to me. He did as I asked, and when I had the blanket in my hands, I draped it over Shun's shoulders. He quietly thanked me.

Ace intertwined his fingers behind his head and said, "Wait a minute. What if he turns while we're asleep? I mean, he already looks like one of those things, so he can't possibly last much longer, right?" I narrowed my eyes at Ace and tried to convince myself that we had said was uncalled for, but I couldn't.

It was the truth. Shun could turn at any moment. It could be in a day, hour, or within the next five minutes. Baron raised his hand and said, "I can stay awake while everyone is asleep and keep an eye on him." Mira shook her head.

"No, Baron. You need to sleep just as much as the rest of us." He lowered his hand back down to his side and didn't say another word. Shun sighed and closed his eyes. "Tie me up or lock me in a room somewhere, I don't care. I don't blame any of you for being cautious around me. Heck, I would probably do the same thing if it were somebody else in my position," he said solemnly.

I took his hand into mine and said, "Don't say that, Shun." He glanced over at me and asked, "Why? It's the truth." I gave him a sad look and sighed. "I guess you're right." Keith pointed towards the storage rooms and said, "We can't lock him in any of those rooms since the locks and knobs are broken."

When we first found this place, Keith and Ace discovered that almost every door had been kicked in, most likely from when the virus broke out and people started robbing anything and everything. "Guess that leaves tying him up," Ace said stoically. While searching through the rooms this morning, Baron had found a bit of nylon rope; just enough to either get around the waist of a skinny person or to tie hands together.

Ace went into another room and returned with the rope in his hands. Shun sighed, looking more tired than before, and stood up. "Where do you want me?" he asked. Ace looked around and pointed over to the iron-barred door. "How about there? It seems to be the only place."

One would have thought that Ace would have been getting a kick, but even I could see that he didn't want to be doing this. Perhaps he felt pity towards Shun for all that he was going through. Ace might have even felt the same pity back in the bunker when Shun first fell ill, but he refused to show it in order to try and keep us all held together.

Because if we saw that even Ace was out of it, then it would only let us know how bad things really were. He wasn't trying to be mean or crude, but rather, trying to help keep us shielded from hurt. Ace tied Shun's hands to the iron bars that ran up and down the front door of the store and stepped back. He then turned to face us and said, "Well, I suppose we call it a night now."

_Layfair_

Flanked by two of my loyal assistants, I walked down one of the long hallways that made up my underground lab. Things were going well with our research, but our test subjects were starting to run low, and we would need more soon. So, I decided to take up this opportunity to search for any locations of survivors while up in the air.

Our original reason for going out into the city via helicopter, was to gather data on the virus and how quickly it was spreading so we could record it down for when we sold it as a biological weapon to other worlds; nobody would buy a product they knew nothing about, right?

Two double doors opened up ahead of us, letting in a bright light from outside. My two assistants and I walked through and out onto the roof of the building that rested on top of my underground lab. The roof housed the helicopter that I commandeered when I first released the virus, and the military was wiped out in a matter of hours.

One of my assistants hoped up into the pilot's seat, and the other joined him in the co-pilot's. "Ready for take off," said the male assistant, which was the one flying the helicopter. He flipped several switches and the chopper-blades began to rotate.

I quickly hoped into the passenger part of the chopper and watched as the roof grew smaller and smaller the more we ascended into the air. Now, we were hovering over the ruined planet of Vestal. Smoke rose into the gray, dead sky from the buildings and streets below.

When I looked down, I could see seas and rivers of zombies moving along, hunting for their next meal. _My creations. This is the work of my hands. And my colleagues said it could not be done. That I could not bring the dead back to life. What fools. _

A slight grin crossed my face as I thought of how they must have looked when my creations came and tore them to shreds. The co-pilot, my female assistant, was peering out of the chopper's window and scribbling down notes of what the virus had done thus far.

I was still leaning against the open side door of the helicopter, the tail-end of my white lab coat fluttered around in the wind created from being at such a high altitude. My eyes scanned for anywhere that survivors may have been located.

If I saw people down below that were running in the streets, I did not want them as live subjects; odds were they were going to be eaten soon. What I wanted, were the ones who were smart enough to lock themselves up and try to make it as long as they possibly could in one location. Although, such a desire proved difficult to fill, for I could not see inside the buildings.

I would only have to settle for getting lucky enough to catch a glimpse of somebody on a roof or running into a building. My eyes continued to scan thoroughly at the streets below. I then caught sight of what appeared to have been a hoard at one point, but they were unable to walk, only able to crawl with their hands.

_Their legs have been cut off. _The amputated hoard was clustered all in one area, telling me that the people who did this, had to be nearby. I said up to my assistants, "I want Area C checked by the scouts tomorrow. Understood?"

They both nodded and finished gathering information on what kind of havoc the virus created. Once done, they turned the helicopter around and headed back to the lab.

* * *

welp, another chapter down. i thought i might have been lacking in creativity (seeing as how i wrote an eight page rough draft of my research paper for english III). i still hate the english language now soooo. ADIOS! read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	15. Regeneration

_Shun_

My eyes slowly opened as I woke up for what felt like the hundredth time that night. I could feel my fever spiking, making it all the more difficult for me to relax and rest. That, and I could hear the moans of zombies outside, which made me uneasy. Around me, the others were sound asleep, lying on the floor and wrapped up in blankets to keep warm.

I envied them for being able to seek refuge in sleep, while I was tormented by my body trying its best to fight off the virus that was slowly killing me. Moving to try and find a more comfortable position to sit up in while tied to the door, I felt the rope around my wrists slip off and land on the floor.

My hands were now free. I picked up the rope and looked at it. _Ace didn't do a very good job at tying a knot._ I tossed the rope to the side and let out a heavy sigh. I was so tired and drained of all my energy. But as tired as I was, I couldn't bring myself to get any rest, which wasn't helping me at all.

Closing my eyes and taking in a deep breath and exhaling it, I tried to go back to sleep. Right when I felt that I might have been able to drift off, a knocking on the iron-barred door that I had been tied to snapped me from my daze. I jumped in surprise and turned around to see what was going on.

Standing on the other side, was Runo. My eyes were wide with surprise, and I quickly turned to see if her knocking had woken any of the others. But they all remained sound asleep, unaware of what I was seeing. Runo's eyes were narrowed at me in a cold fashion, and she stood there for a moment before running off down the street.

Curious to know what was going on and how she was here, I scrambled up to my feet and ran out of the store, barely closing the door behind me. I lumbered down the streets and peered down alleyways as I searched for the bluenette. Dawn was starting to creep up, turning the sky from black to purplish.

Zombies that had strayed into this part of the city, didn't even glance at me as I tried to find Runo. In an alley beside me, a flash of blue caught my eye, and I turned to try and catch a better glimpse of it. But I was the only one standing in the intersection of the four alleyways.

My legs began to grow weak, so I leaned against a brick wall in order to rest. _"Murderer," _a voice hissed through the air around me. "Who's there?" A dull pain started to form in my head. I brought my hand up and held onto the side of my skull that was starting to scream in agony.

_"Murderer!" _the voice shouted. It sounded closer this time, so I glanced up to see if I could find the source of my persecutor. What I saw, was Runo. She was standing about ten feet away from me, wearing the same clothes that she had been in the day she died.

They were torn and tattered, blood staining the shirt and skirt. A single bite mark rested on her hand. "Murderer! You killed us!" she said with poisoned hatred in her voice. She was accusing me of murder just like Dan had when I thought I saw him the other day.

"No, I didn't," I said hoarsely. I hadn't seen myself as a killer during that time. Maybe for a bit at first, but not in the end. I was no killer. I only did what was in the best interests for the group. "Liar!" she screamed. The bite on her hand started to drip blood, but it didn't seem to bother her.

I pressed myself against the brick wall behind me and said with as much defiance as I could muster, "I'm not lying." I coughed into my hand, and when I looked at my palm, it was covered with my own blood. Everything around me began to spin, and I held on tightly to the wall for a sense of balance.

Runo continued to stand there, a cold and unforgiving glare fixed on me. She hissed, "You deserve what's coming to you!" I blinked once, and saw that she had turned into her zombie form. When I blinked again, she was back to normal. _I'm hallucinating again. I have to be. _

Runo then began shifting back and forth from human to zombie in short and sudden flashes. I closed my eyes tightly and shook my head. "Stop! Just stop!" I shouted, unable to stand any of this any longer. My legs buckled beneath me, and I fell to the ground. I coughed up another bout of blood, creating a puddle in front of me.

I then felt my body going limp and numb, and the world around me went in and out of a blur. Where Runo had been standing, was now replaced by a random zombie that had been wandering around, but I had seen him as the bluenette. I knew I did. The sun finally broke over the skyline of the city, just as I blacked out.

_No One_

Layfair's two top assistants drove a military grade convoy through the streets of Vestal to the designated Area C to hunt for the survivors that had taken down a hoard. The woman with curly black hair, Liza, keep a look out for wherever their targets may have been while the male assistant with graying short brown hair, Henry, drove the convoy.

The two of them were decked out in full-body suits that protected them from the teeth of zombies, making it possible to walk outside without running risk of infection via bite. Their mission, other than to look for the survivors, was to also gather zombies in all different stages of infection so more research could be performed on the serum, and to discover the limits it had, if any.

Liza unbuckled her seatbelt and said to her partner, "Here might as well be as good as any spot to start looking." Henry stopped the convoy and hopped out through his door. Liza did the same on her side. The two moved towards the canopied back of the vehicle and each grabbed a neck loop, a device once used to capture wild animals, but was now finding a new purpose as a method to catch zombies.

They started to walk down the streets, and eventually encountered a lone zombie stumbling towards them. Henry approached the target and hooked the loop around the zombie's neck, and pulled it tight. The creature extended its arms out in a futile attempt to grab at them.

As Henry struggled to pull the creature back to the convoy, Liza asked sheepishly, "Do you think what Layfair is doing is right? Even if he is able to reverse what's been done?" Her partner stopped in his tracks and said seriously, "Layfair is developing something that could make us live forever, with little to no consequences.

I don't care what he has to do in order to get it done, as long as its finished soon." Liza sighed and said, "I guess you've got a point. Here, I'll help you get him into the back." Henry thanked her as she dropped the tailgate and helped picked their captured zombie into the convoy.

They then chained the creature inside so he would not get out and escape. "A couple more should please Layfair," Henry said while patting the tailgate with his hand. The two assistants continued on their way, encountering several more zombies and capturing them.

"That's enough," Liza stated, seeing that the back of the truck was getting rather full. "Now, let's start looking for those survivors. I'm sure Layfair would be pleased if we were able to bring some people back that were alive." Henry nodded and hopped back into the driver's seat. Liza stayed behind for a moment, looking into the back of the convoy that was filled with moving corpses.

She didn't agree with everything Layfair was doing because it was because of him that her family was killed by his virus. But Layfair promised a serum that would bring everyone back. That was the only thing keeping Liza from cornering Layfair and putting a bullet between his eyes.

She snapped out of her thoughts and climbed back into the passenger seat of the convoy. The smell of the living corpses in the back was enough to make her feel sick to her stomach, but she held back her urge to throw up. Henry narrowed his eyes as he looked ahead, and pointed his finger at something in front of them.

"Hey? You see that, Liza?" The female assistant tried to follow where he was pointing, and sure enough, there was something laying on the ground. "Yeah, I do. Want to check it out?" she asked him. Henry nodded and put the convoy in park. When he climbed out, he made sure to keep his hand pistol near his reach, just in case what they found tried to attack them.

As they got closer, they saw that it was a raven-haired boy laying still and motionless on the ground, bluish-black skin discoloration spreading from his neck and down most of his right arm. A pool of blood rested beside his body. "Is he dead?" Liza asked.

Henry knelt down beside the boy and placed two fingers on the side of the boy's neck that wasn't decay. He sat there for a moment before stating, "No. He isn't dead yet, but he probably will be shortly. You think Layfair would want him?"

Liza shrugged her shoulders and said, "He did state that he wanted to test subjects that were suffering from all stages of infection. And as far as I know, he's had no near-death ones yet. They've all pretty much been dead or recently infected."

Henry nodded and said, "You've got a point there." He then picked up their latest find and carried him back to the convoy, where he placed the raven-haired boy in the back with the rest of their captures.

Liza examined the canopy-covered truck bed of the convoy and said, "There's not much room left. We can come back another day and hunt for survivors. Right now, we need to get these guys back to Layfair." Henry agreed with her and they climbed back into the convoy once more, driving back to the underground lab.

_Layfair_

One of my assistants told me of Liza and Henry's arrival back to the lab, and I left my study to go and see what kind of haul the two of them brought in this time. They two never ceased to disappoint me when I sent them out on missions. The convoy backed up into the garage, and I could hear the low moans of the creatures inside.

My other assistants, dressed in protective gear, flocked to the back and lowered the tailgate. They then hooked neck loops around each one of the creatures necks so they could make them go where they wanted.

The truck bed appeared empty now, but Henry jumped out from the driver's seat and shouted to the leaving assistants, "Hey, wait! There's one more back there that's still alive!" My curiosity was stirred now. They actually found somebody who was alive?

I walked down from the platform I had been observing from and pushed the people blocking my view out of the way. My eyes then widened at the site, and a slight grin formed. "Well, now. Look what we have here." I reached down and brushed the unkempt, jet-black hair out of the way to reveal the face hiding beneath.

"It's been quite some time, 388. What a pitiful state you're in now." He was completely unconscious, and on the border of death from what I could see. Henry was still by my side. He asked me, "You know this kid?" I nodded, still gazing down in awe at what had circulated its way back to me.

"Indeed. This is the lucky person who survived one of my antidotes back on Earth. Thus, why I call him 388." I shifted my conversation from Henry back to 388. "So, you made it this far, huh? I'm impressed." I turned around and narrowed my eyes at my assistants that were standing around, doing nothing.

"I want tests run on this one! Now! Get moving! I want to know anything and everything!" My assistants began to run around in a blind furry. They quickly took 388 and hurried him to the observation rooms. I was about to walk back to my study, when Liza approached me.

"Layfair, can I speak to you in private for a moment?" I smiled and said, "Sure, child. Follow me." I led her to my study. She walked in first, and I followed in behind, closing the door. Liza was about to open her mouth to speak, but I cut her off. "I heard from Henry that you've been doubting me lately," I said coldly.

She was caught off guard by my statement. But nonetheless, she eventually nodded. "Yes. There have been times when I wonder whether what you're doing is right or not. Can you blame me, seeing as it was your virus that killed my loved ones?"

I placed my hand over my heart, then placed my other hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry about that, and I promise to make it all up to you when the serum is perfected." I then heard a click, and glanced down in time to see a hand pistol pointed at me.

Liza pulled the trigger, sending the bullet into my skull. I stumbled back and fell onto the floor, a pool of blood forming around me. Liza said coldly, "I'm sure I can figure out the serum on my own, but I really wanted to do what I just did."

I could hear her starting to walk out of the room, but I stood up and laughed. She froze in her place and slowly turned around. "What the? You should be dead!" she shouted and aimed the gun back at me with trembling hands. She shot again, this time hitting me right in my heart.

But I continued to stand and laugh. Then, I began to feel the two wounds heal up. I placed a hand on my hip and said with a chuckle, "I've been injecting all of my serums into me since I began to develop them. Although the effects aren't long term, I can't be killed so easily. True, I have to give myself an injection every day, but that's the price to pay when something like this happens."

I then crossed my arms over my chest and shook my head. "You were a good assistant too." Before she could run out of the study, I pulled out a pistol of my own and shot her through the skull.

Unlike me, when she dropped to the ground, she didn't get back up. "You'll make a fine addition to the other test subjects," I mused while kicking her dead body over so it would face me.

I then smiled and closed the door to my study, where I proceeded to do my day's work. I sighed. "You can't keep people around you that don't trust you. They'll betray you."

* * *

so, to recap, Shun is captured and back in Layfair's hands, and if it wasnt clear, Layfair is nuts. read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	16. Cringe

_Layfair_

A knock came from my study door. I glanced up from the papers I was reading and said, "Come in." An assistant poked his head inside, his eyes locking on me. Cautiously, he stepped in. This assistant was a scrawny thing, and his hair was short and thin. He stood there in the doorway, tapping his foot in a sporadic pattern.

"Mr. Layfair," he stuttered out. It was clear as day that he was nervous of being in my presence, which told me that word about my earlier encounter with Liza had spread throughout the lab. _Good. They need to learn not to even think about crossing me._ "Yes?" I asked while pushing my papers to the side.

The assistant scratched the back of his neck and told me, "The new arrival, the one that was still alive, he's been placed in an observation room and we've taken all of your required tests. They're all ready now if you want to see them." I smiled and stood up from my desk, my chair rolling backwards.

"Alright. Escort me there." The assistant nodded and led me down the hallways towards 388's observation room. The door, like all in the underground lab, was made of solid steel, in case anything got out of hand. A keypad also keep the doors locked and made it to where only authorized personnel were able to enter. The assistant typed in the code number, and the little red light flicked to green to signal that the code was correct.

The room was cold in order to keep things as sterile as possible. Laying on an observation table, was 388. When Liza and Henry brought him here, he was near his death; he was in about the same state now.

My assistant motioned me over to a computer monitor on the wall and said, "Here is all the data that's been collected so far, Mr. Layfair." He brought up and screen showing me vital signs and anything else I would ever want to know about this particular patient.

"Um, one of our specialists said that by the extent of the virus, the subject has been infected for several days," my assistant said sheepishly. I felt my eyes widen with the newly acquired information. "Several days?" I asked while glancing back at 388. "How? He should have been dead a long time ago."

The virus that I designed was a swift killer; the longest we had seen anyone last was about two hours. But two or three days was unbelievable. "Well,-" My assistant started, but I quickly cut him off. "You took a sample of his blood, correct?" He nodded and was about to speak again, but I didn't allow it.

Instead, I said, "Bring it up on the monitor. I want to see if I can find what's been keeping him alive this long." My assistant didn't protest as he typed on the keyboard. Soon, an image of a blood sample popped up, revealing the cells that made up the structure.

I easily identified the cells of the virus; there was rather a large amount, which only added to my confusion as to how 388 had made it this far. I then identified the white blood cells, which were elevated to fight off the infection. "Zoom in, please," I said while narrowing my eyes at the picture.

The small assistant did as I said, and the picture increased in size, making it easier for me to see the details. Something in the cells caught my eye, and I ordered for the assistant to stop zooming in. "There," I said, but my assistant didn't seem to know what I was talking about.

I leaned forward and closely examined a white blood cell. The structure was different than it should have been for a human being, and even for a Vestal, but it all looked familiar to me. Suddenly, I felt the answer slap me in the face. "The antidote!" I shouted, causing several doctors and nurses to turn and look at me with startled expressions.

The remains of the antidote I produced all those years ago were still circulating through 388's system, but they appeared to have weakened with time. Although, what I found interesting was the fact that the antidote shouldn't have merged with the cells.

"Perhaps it did that in order to continue living," I thought out loud. My antidote, was necessarily a living organism, nothing more than an alteration to the original virus. As time passed, it would have eventually weakened and died off, but in order to keep living, it had merged with the white blood cells. Still, there was no way that the old antidote was strong enough to fight off this new strand, but it had done a good job thus far. I then began to think.

"What if this is what we've been looking for?" I asked my assistant. He was fidgeting with his thumbs when I asked him the question. "Huh? What do you mean, sir?" I turned my back to the monitor and leaned against the control panel.

"I mean, the antidote merged with the white blood cells, creating a barrier, a weak barrier, but a barrier nonetheless. With each white cell produced, there is a trace of the antidote inside. What if we were able to gather enough of the antidote-infused cells and add it to the serum? It might be able to keep those injected with it from reverting back into zombies."

The assistant glanced over at 388, then to the monitor. "But, Mr. Layfair, there most likely isn't enough of the old antidote in his now to amount to anything. How do you plan on getting enough to add into the serum for it to work?" he asked nervously. I thought for a moment, and came up with a solution.

"388 has produced all of these white cells so far because he has been infected with the virus twice. So, why not infect him again in order to get more?" The assistant stared at me as if I had gone mad. "Sir! He can't handle another infection. He's nearly dead now as it is. Another injection of the virus could kill him on the spot," he said, his words rushing towards the end as he explained the cons to my idea.

All I did was grin. "That is where you are wrong, my friend. In order to keep the virus from killing him, we'll inject him with small doses of the serum at the same time, keeping him from turning, but sick enough to keep producing the cells we need."

My assistant was quiet after that. I glanced down at him and snapped, "Well, what are you waiting for! Tell the others what to do!" He flinched and ran over to the doctors to relay the plan. From where I was standing, I could see their first reaction to what I had to say was absurd to them, but as my assistant explained, they finally gave a nod.

I walked over to where 388 was laying. Machines were still hooked up to him from where tests and data was taken. An elderly doctor walked over to the subject, a syringe of red liquid held in his hand; the virus. He then started to clean off a spot where the needle would go in, but I stopped him.

"We need him to be as sick as possible to get what we need. So, why are you trying to prevent the syringe from infecting him?" The elderly doctor slowly lowered down the alcohol prep and said, "Sorry, sir." He then stuck the needle into 388's arm and pushed the syringe plunger, sending another dose of the virus into his body.

388 grimaced in his unconscious state, and I watched as the blue and black discoloration started to consume him more quickly. The doctor then pulled out a vial of the recently developed serum, and injected a small amount into the same place as the injection of the virus.

The spread of discoloration came to a halt as the virus and serum battled it out inside of 388's body, but there was only enough put inside of him to deadlock the two opposing forces, while still allowing the full effect of the virus to work, minus the turning part.

388, still out cold, let out a cough, sending drops of blood into the air and landing on his face and around him. I looked to the doctor and said, "Make sure to keep an eye on him. I want the virus injected every hour. If there are any signs that the serum is losing its fight, inject a bit more to hold the virus off. I'll be back in a few hours to check on progress."

The doctor nodded and went back to what he was previously doing. I headed towards the door left the observation room.

_Dan_

I was laying down on my bed, staring up at the solid white ceiling and its florescent lights. The people keeping us held here against our wills and using us as experiments, had become a bit more lenient on keeping an eye on us.

They no longer watched over us like hawks, probably because we knew there was no point in trying to leave. Here, we were safe from the horrible things outside of this lab. And here, we were also receiving treatment that would permanently bring us back from the dead, with no risk of reverting back to zombies.

_Maybe not everything about this place is so bad. _The Layfair guy also promised that when his serum was finished, he would give it to everyone who had been infected, turning them back to people like us. Although, I didn't like the fact that when everything was perfected, he was going to sell it as a biological weapon to other worlds.

I sat up from my bed and started towards the door. "Where are you going, Dan?" Murucho asked me from his own bed. I grabbed onto the doorknob and said, "Just going to walk around this place. I mean, they know we aren't going to leave, even if we could. So, what harm will it do if I investigate for a bit?"

None of them said anything else, so I walked out into the hall and shut the door behind me. The whole place smelled like one big hospital, and looked like one too; except there was a bit more security than one guy that slept by the door. As I passed by rooms, I glanced in the windows to see what was inside.

In between the two panes of glass, was that wire to keep things in and out in case the glass ever broke. It was kind of like the stuff that was in some school classrooms, except a bit more heavy-duty. Some of the windows were blocked out by blinds, making it to where I couldn't see anything inside.

All while I walked down corridors and hallways, I never once encountered another worker. _I thought this place would have been crawling with them. _I then turned onto a familiar hallway. Looking at the location of the doors and lights, I was struck with a memory of being on this hall when I first woke up on my observation table, not the tube of fluid.

Cautiously, I walked down the hall, looking into windows whenever I could find one. In one room, I saw rows of fluid-filled tubes like what the others and I had been in. Each one was occupied by a person. I then came to a room at the end of the hall.

The blinds on the window to the inside were down, but I was able to see through them just enough to catch glimpses of what was on the inside. It looked like the room that the others and I now shared, except there was a lot more medical equipment and doctors inside this one.

I watched as doctors and other assistants walked around, looking at charts and talking to one another. Then, one moved and I was able to see their latest 'patient.' My eyes widened and my jaw went slack. "Sh-Shun?" I stuttered out. I had to blink my eyes a couple of times to make sure it wasn't my mind playing tricks on me.

But sure enough, it was him. He was laid out on one of those observation table, tubes and everything else stuck into him. I then noticed a doctor walking towards the door, and I ducked into a corner to stay out of sight. The moment he exited, I slipped into the room as the door was closing and ran straight to where my friend was.

"Shun!" I shouted, capturing the attention of the people in the room. Up close, I was able to get a better look at him. He looked horrible, almost dead. Dark circles surrounded his eyes, making them look sunken in. On the right side of his neck and on his right arm, was turned into what looked like a major bruise.

Speckles of blood were on his face and the pillow under him. I stared at what used to be my friend, not able to fully register what was going on before me. A doctor laid his hand on my shoulder, and I flinched away. "How did you get in here?" he asked me. I shook my head and bolted for the door, but bumped into somebody.

Slowly, I looked up and found myself face to face with Layfair. He was grinning at me and said, "I see you've found our latest project." My anger began to build up inside of me, and my hands curled into fists. "What have you done to Shun!" I shouted.

Layfair's smile didn't fade. He strode over to Shun and said calmly, "You're friend here was the one lucky enough to survive the antidote I made back on Earth." I gritted my teeth and shouted, "I know that! What have you done to him now!"

Layfair was twirling the wire of a machine when he told me, "Well, the antidote has turned his white blood cells into something we might be able to use for the serum. So far, we've infected him several times with the virus, but gave him enough of the serum in order to hold it back. When we harvest enough of his antidote-infused cells, we'll mix them with the serum and try a bit out on a subject. If it works, then we'll dissect the structure of the cells and replicate them, then begin production on a permanent serum."

My previous thoughts of this place had been changed in a matter of minutes. This place was worse than I had started to believe now that I saw what all was going on behind the scenes. They had taken my friend, placed him on the edge of death, and were going to keep him there until they got what they wanted.

To them, all Shun's life was worth was making their precious serum. What would they do to him when they got enough of his cells and discovered that they might not work in the serum? Would they just let Shun die, or keep experimenting on him?

I hated to think that whatever we may have been injected with, was used on Shun first to make sure it had no dramatic side-effects. I suddenly began to feel sick, and held myself up by grabbing onto a nearby table. Layfair was still smiling at me.

He asked, "Not feeling so hot? Why don't I have somebody escort you back to your room?" I didn't put up any resistance when two nurses walked me back to the room I shared with the others. They finally got my dazed-self back to my room, and laid me down on my bed.

I was still unable to fully take everything in. How could this be happening? Beside me, I heard Runo asked, "What happened to Dan?" One of the nurses said calmly, "He's just exerted himself a bit too much." She then pulled out a syringe and injected something into my arm. Quickly, I began to fall asleep before I could tell the others what I had seen.

* * *

HAPPY LATE HALLOWEEN! sorry for not getting this up yesterday. another chiropractor appointment. well, read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	17. First Down

_Alice_

The sound of scratching on the windows of the stores was what woke us all up that morning. I was the first to see the zombie picking at a hole that had been shattered in the glass between the iron bars. It stuck its arm through the hole, causing several small shards of glass to break loose and fall. Keith, how had finally seen the potential threat as well, slowly got up and walked over to grab his crossbow.

He loaded an arrow and stood right in front of the zombie. It saw Keith and started to drool at the sight of food. The spiky-haired blonde then pulled the trigger on the crossbow, sending an arrow through the zombie's skull. The creature dropped to the ground dead as the sharpened point of the arrow destroyed the brain inside.

"This might be a sign that we have to start moving again soon," he said flatly while walking from the window. He had a point. After the hoard that we encountered the other day, it felt like more and more zombies were making their way to our hideout.

Thinking about that day, I was reminded how it had been Shun that pulled out of that situation, despite the weakened state he was in. Then again, he had no risk of being eaten alive by the zombies since he was infected. Thinking about him, I looked over to where Ace had tied him up and found that he was no longer there.

"Shun?" I asked and began to look around. The others sensed my distress and looked over to see that the raven-haired boy was gone. Mira strode over to where he had been tied to the door, and picked up the piece of rope used to restrain him. Ace reached for the hatchet beside him and held it at the ready.

"You think he turned last night and broke loose?" he asked while looking around. A sick feeling formed in my stomach when he said that. Had Shun finally succumbed to the virus? Keith told Ace calmly, "I doubt that. If he had, he would have attacked us in our sleep. Odds are the rope came off and he left for some reason or another."

I then noticed that the door that led outside, wasn't closed all the way like it had been when we all turned in for the night; it was only pulled to. I made my way over to the door and pushed it open, then stepped outside. It was cool out thanks to the early morning air, and the fact that the sun hadn't risen all the way yet.

Baron poked his head out of the door and said in a hushed voice, "Master Alice! What are you doing? Get back in here before one of those things get you!" I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath, then bolted off down the street. Behind me, I could hear the others shouting for me to come back.

But I wasn't about to turn around just yet. I was going to try and find Shun again. With the state he had been in yesterday, there was no way he could have gotten very far. I rounded a street corner and skidded to a halt. In front of me, was a massive hoard.

They saw me and went from a slow walk, to quickened pace. I turned on my heels and ran back down the street I came from, zombies chasing me all the way. My heart was pounding faster than it ever had before, and I was sure that those monsters could hear it.

I had to get back to the store, but I quickly realized that was a bad idea. This many zombies would be able to break through and keep us cornered. There was no way I could lead them back to where the others were at. So, that left my only choice as to keep running and hopefully get out of their sights.

I turned to run down another street, and was met with yet another hoard. My eyes grew wide as I stood in shock before running in the other direction. Now, I had two masses of zombies chasing after me. Tears were starting to stream down my face as I came to terms with the fact that I would most likely die being ripped apart.

As I ran, my foot caught in a discarded plastic bag that had been thrown out onto the ground, and I fell with a thud. I only had enough time to roll over onto my back and see the hoard of zombies and their arms extended out in order to grab onto me.

The one in the front fell over and was about to land on top of me, but I caught sight of an old broom handle laying on the ground beside me. I took it and held it horizontal in front of me, catching the zombie before it could make contact with me.

It snapped its teeth at me, trying to bite into my face. More of the hoard was piling on top of him, adding more weight onto my broom handle. There was no way I could hold this forever.

I then saw the paint on the old broom starting to crack, along with the wooden handle. It would break soon, there was no doubt about that. My arms began to tremble beneath the weight of the zombies, and I did the only thing that I could possibly do. I screamed.

_Keith_

The four of us wandered about the streets near our hideout to try and find Alice. She had suddenly run from the store; looking for Shun was the only thing I could think of as the reason for her actions.

Each of us were equipped with a weapon; Mira with a hand pistol, Ace with his hatchet, Baron with a shotgun, and me with my crossbow. We stopped walking and observed out surroundings. I asked Baron, "Are you sure she ran off in this direction?"

He nodded and told me, "I'm positive." Just as he said that, I heard a blood-curdling shriek come from a couple of buildings over. Instantly, we identified them as Alice's began to run towards the direction of the screams. Perhaps we were riding on the hope that we could make it in time to save her.

We rounded a corner and found a massive hoard swarming over something. Through the decaying corpses, I saw Alice laying on the ground, using something to keep the zombies off of her. But it looked like her object was about to snap into two, allowing the sea of zombies to crash down onto her; that was the only thing keeping her safe at the moment.

The zombies weren't smart enough to go around and get her from the other side, but only knew how to pile up on top of each other like greedy pigs fighting over food. She screamed again, breaking me from my thoughts. I turned and faced the others, "Ace! Try and cut down as many of them as you can. Mira, stand a safe distance away and try to shoot down a few. Baron, come with me. We'll take higher ground and take them out from up there."

They all gave me a nod and we dispersed. Baron and I found an emergency escape ladder on a building nearby. We broke off the thin, metal door that worked to keep people from climbing it when it was not needed, and started our mad dash to the top.

As we climbed, I glanced down below and saw Ace leading some of the zombies away from the hoard, where he proceeded to hack into them with the hatchet. Baron and I reached the roof and ran over to the edge. What I saw below us, was shocking.

So far, none of us had seen this many zombies gathered in one mass, and because of that, this felt impossible, almost like a lost cause. But we had to try and save Alice. She was one of our own. I loaded arrows into the crossbow and began shooting zombies down one by one.

Baron was doing the same with the shotgun, but he suddenly ceased his firing. His eyes were cast down at the street below and he said in a low voice, "Maron."

I blinked and followed his eyes down to the hoard below. Sure enough, there was one of his little sisters there, zombie and all. Baron lowered the shotgun, and I instantly knew that he wasn't going to continue shooting. So, I picked up where I left off and tried to take out twice as many.

Beside me, I caught a glimpse of Baron dropping to his knees in a heap. _As if he wasn't out of it enough already. _The brutal death of his family had made things horrible for him, but seeing one of his siblings as a walking corpse was only adding to the psychological damage.

I went back to shooting, and suddenly heard him scream. Thinking that he was losing it from the site before him, I turned and said, "Relax, Bar-" But my words stopped there when I saw what he real reason to scream was. Two zombies that had apparently been on the roof when we climbed up here, had grabbed a hold of him and started to bite into his arms and abdomen.

"Baron!" I shouted and aimed and arrow towards his attackers. But there were several more on the roof that were heading towards me. I quickly shot them and loaded another arrow into the crossbow, and shot the two that were ripping Baron apart.

They fell over onto their sides, dead and no longer a threat. I ran over and knelt beside the pink-haired boy. He was crying and screaming in pain. Large chunks of his flesh had been taken out when the zombies started their feast. Suddenly, I was conflicted.

I needed to be on the edge of the roof, killing the zombies that were after Alice. But I felt like I had to be by Baron's side, since this was my fault. "I'm so sorry, Baron. I should have checked the roof when we got up here. I'm sorry."

He looked at me, tears flooding from his eyes and another scream of agony escaping from his lips. I bit my lower lip and loaded the last arrow I had in my quiver, and aimed it at Baron. He would end up turning soon, and this would end his suffering.

I thought about what Alice had said at one point about killing the living, and decided that this was going to be the only exception. I pulled the trigger and let the arrow fly, piercing Baron's skull and ending his suffering, while also preventing him from turning into one of the monsters that had killed his family.

Throwing the useless crossbow on the ground, I took the shotgun that Baron had been using before this distraction happened. Back on the street below, Ace and Mira had taken out a good many of the massive hoard. I loaded a buck-shot cartridge into the shotgun and fired.

A loud explosion and cloud of smoke shot from the barrel and the tiny lead balls inside flew towards the streets below. The ammunition inside of the cartridge spread out over a distance and killed several zombies in one hit. After firing several more times, along with Ace and Mira's help below, there were only about ten or twelve zombies remaining; plenty for us to handle without breaking a sweat.

I slung the shotgun over my shoulder and hurried down the metal rungs of the ladder. I had let Baron die, and I wasn't about to allow somebody else to suffer the same demise. I loaded my last shell into the gun and fired, knocking out six of the zombies that were trying to reach her.

Ace then ran up behind them, and it one fluid motion, cut the ax into their necks and nearly severed the zombies' heads. It was enough to kill them though, and the last of the threat came crashing down to the ground.

All that remained, was the one zombie that was trying to reach Alice, but was being blocked by a broom handle she was holding against him. Mira showed up by my side and shot the hand pistol, which she had become good at using, and caught the creature in the head.

It died, and when Alice realized this, she pushed it off of her and sat up, trembling and crying. Blood covered her, but it was not her own; it belonged to the creatures that had been slaughtered in front of her. We ran over to her and all huddled around the frightened girl.

Alice latched onto Mira and buried her face into my sister's shoulder. "Does she have any bites?" Ace asked. I carefully inspected her and saw none. I said with a sigh of relief, "No." We had made it just in time to save her. A moment later, and the broom handle might have snapped, allowing the creatures above her to rip her to pieces.

Mira then looked around and asked me, "Keith, where's Baron?" I cast my eyes down and said solemnly, "It's my fault. We didn't check to make sure the roof was safe. There were zombies up there, and they got a hold of him and bit him. I had no choice but to put him down."

Mira and Ace stared at me, and I could see tears starting to form in their eyes. "Listen, you two get Alice back to the store. I have to go and retrieve my crossbow and arrows." They nodded and helped the still trembling Alice to her feet. In the dead mass of what used to be the hoard, I went around and pulled arrows out of the corpses' skulls.

When I was done there, I climbed the ladder back onto the roof and removed the arrows from those zombies, while also picking up my crossbow. One arrow remained, and it was the one I had used to put Baron down with.

I then realized, that I couldn't bring myself to retrieve that one, and headed back to the ladder. Before I descended down, I said to Baron's deaf ears, "I'm so sorry." Then, I climbed down the rungs and chased after the others.

* * *

sorry, but there wouldnt be drama if somebody that we all know and loved didnt die. -shrugs- well, read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	18. It's A Cold, Harsh, Cruel Reality

_Alice_

A mournful silence was all that lingered in the store. Nobody said anything. What was there to say? Baron was gone, simple as that. There was no need to elaborate it. Keith ran a hand through his hair, and his expression turn from one of sadness, to one of anger.

He gritted his teeth and punched the wall beside him, leaving a hole in the sheetrock. "It's my fault that he's gone!" he said with frustration. Mira placed a hand on her brother's shoulder and said quietly, "Stop blaming yourself, Keith. Please." He fell back against the wall and slid down to the floor, running both his hands through his hair. "Mira's right," I said suddenly.

"If anyone's at fault, it should be me. It's cause of me that Baron's dead now. All I had to do was just stay here, and none of this would have happened." Tears started to run down my face. It was true. If I hadn't run off to try and find Shun, then I wouldn't have been ambushed, and Baron wouldn't have been bitten.

Keith looked up at me with his saddened eyes and said, "This isn't your fault, Alice. Baron could have survived this if I had just checked the roof." My emotions built up inside of me and finally broke loose. "But it's still cause of me that he's dead! If I hadn't run off, then none of you would have chased after me, and you and Baron wouldn't have gone up on that roof! I'm the root cause of this!"

Tears were flowing freely from my eyes now. In less that twenty-four hours, I had lost two people. How many more would we lose? Quite frankly, I didn't want to see anyone else go, but I had a feeling that we would. It always seemed like when one person fell, the rest followed shortly after.

I tucked my knees up to my chest and buried my face into them. "I don't want to lose anyone else," I said with a sob. All of this was finally hitting me, and I hated it. I would have given anything to be numb from this pain of loss. Mira left her brother's side and sat down next to me.

"Alice, nobody else is going to die. Right, guys?" She turned and looked at Ace and Keith. The two exchanged a look at each other, then gave me a nod. Ace said with a grin, "Yeah. Keith and I will make sure that you two stay safe." Keith even cracked a slight grin as well.

"Yeah," he said. "We promise to watch ourselves out there as well." Their words felt reassuring, but they sadly they were said too late. If they had been spoken while we were in the bunker, then maybe we wouldn't have lost Baron; I couldn't say the same for Shun, seeing as their was nothing we could do for him when he fell ill. _Shun…. _

I still wondered where he was at. The last any of us had seen of him had been last night when Ace tied him to the door. But when we woke this morning, he was gone, the rope untied and thrown haphazardly to the side. I hated to admit it, but I had a feeling that Shun was gone for good now.

There would be no remarkable reappearance of him. If there was, then it wouldn't be how we'd want to see him. Ace, who was still grinning, shifted his gaze towards the window of the store, where his grin slowly faded. "I see people," he blurted out. "Living people!"

He ran over to the window and looked out through the iron bars. Curious, and also wondering if Ace had finally cracked, we joined his side and tried to follow his gaze. Sure enough, there were about three people walking around in the streets.

They were in some kind of solid white, jumpsuit-looking outfit. Each one of them had a neck loop strapped onto their waists, making them look like animal catchers. Keith narrowed his eyes at them in order to get a better look and said, "I don't think I see any weapons on them other than those contraptions on their hips. Do you guys see anything?"

We all shook our heads. These people had to be crazy to be outside in these streets without a weapon of some sort. "Maybe they're suicidal," Ace muttered. The three mystery people were standing far across the street, and appeared to be talking to each other.

One of them pointed at a building next to them, and the other two nodded. They then vanished inside of the building. "What are they doing?" Mira asked herself aloud. I shook my head, at a loss for answered. Where they looking for somewhere to hide?

If they were, then they should have at least had a blunt object on their person to combat any zombies they might have encountered. The three then emerged from the building, each one holding a zombie caught with the neck loops. "These people are crazy," Ace whispered.

One of the people, the one with short, graying brown hair, handed his captured zombie to one of the other two people with him, and he ran off down the street. In a few minutes, he reappeared, driving a military-style convoy. They then loaded the zombies up into the back of the vehicle.

Keith shook his head. "Who the heck are these people?" I had placed my hand on the store window in order to cut down on the glare and get a better look at our uninvited guests, but my hand bumped a shard of glass that had been broken, and it fell down and shattered on the ground.

The three people immediately turned and looked in our direction. We ducked down, worried that we may have been seen. Mira asked, "You think they saw us?" We knew nothing about these people other than they captured zombies without so much as a hint of fear in their eyes, so we had no reason to trust them; they could have shot us if they wanted to.

"Hello? Is anyone over there?" a voice asked from outside. "Do you think we should answer them?" I asked. Keith shook his head and told me, "No. I think we should go and hide in one of the storage rooms. We don't know anything about these people."

We stayed low as we ran over to one of the storage rooms in the back. Keith closed the door behind us and joined us in the back of the room. Our eyes were locked on the door, waiting to see if it would open and if these mystery people would walk in.

_No One_

Henry led the two assistants that accompanied him towards a small store. They had heard a sound come from the building, and thinking that it could possibly be a survivor, they slowly approached it. "Be careful," he whispered. "If there is anyone in here, they might fight back.

So, keep an eye out." The two assistants nodded and followed his lead. Henry had to admit that these two were somewhat useful, but overall he hated teaching them how to do things correctly while out gathering zombies for test subjects, and while also keeping an eye out for survivors.

_It was so much easier with Liza, _he thought to himself. Although, he knew what fate had become of his partner. She was now a useful tool for the development of the serum that would save them all, so it wasn't like she was going to waste.

Henry just wished that Layfair had assigned him some assistants that weren't as slow as these two. The two were identical twins, with extremely lithe statures. The only difference in the two was their hair color. The one with the dark brown hair was Lex, and his brother, who had light brown hair, was Matt.

Henry stopped in front of the door of the building from which the sound came from, and he reached for the knob, only to discover that it was locked. This was a sign that somebody may have been inside, but it could have also just been a coincidence.

Henry picked up his foot and slammed it into the door, snapping the lock out of place and freeing the door. Shards of glass fell out from the door and windows that flanked its sides. Inside, they found blankets and empty cans of food scattered about.

"Somebody's definitely been in here," Henry said while examining an empty can. "Look over this entire building." Lex and Matt nodded and began to look behind shelves and the check-out counters. Henry rolled his eyes and headed towards the back.

_Alice_

In the main part of the store, I heard the iron-barred door, which had been locked, get kicked in. The sound of more glass falling onto the floor and shattering made me realize that they must have used quite a bit of force to break that door open.

There sounded like there was talking going on, but I couldn't make out any of what they were saying. Then, I heard footsteps heading towards us. The room next to us was opened up, and I heard somebody rummaging about inside of it, searching for us.

_If these people really mean no harm, they wouldn't be looking so hard for us, _I thought to myself. I heard them nearing our storage room, and I began to grow anxious. Keith, also realizing this, acting quickly and stuck a folding chair underneath the doorknob as a means to lock the intruders out.

Although, seeing as they broke the front door, I doubted this would hold them off for very long. Keith began to look around the room, perhaps for a weapon of sorts since we left everything in the main part of the store. But instead, he jumped up and opened up the air vent.

"Get in," he told us. He first helped Mira up into the vent, then me. Ace followed in after me, and he reached his hand down and helped Keith up. The spiky, blonde-haired man then pulled the vent closed and told us, "Keep going till we find a way out." We nodded, and Mira led our group throughout the industrial size cooling and heating system.

_No One_

Henry started to open the door to a storage room, and found that something was blocking his way in. A smile crossed his features, thinking that he had found the people that were inhabiting this place.

He then kicked the door in, which was much easier to do than the first one. But much to his surprise and disappointment, the room was empty. From somewhere else in the store, he heard Lex yell to him, "I don't think there's anyone in here!"

Henry narrowed his eyes at the empty storage room. "No, but there was," he said to himself and glanced up at the air vent, figuring that was the only way for anyone to get out of this room.

But Henry wasn't about to go climbing through the vents since he knew that these survivors had most likely already made their way out.

It would just be a waste of time. Henry shouted to his two partners, "Let's get out of here and back to what we were doing." Henry gathered up the two assistants and led them back outside to the convoy.

_Alice_

Mira kicked open a vent that led outside of the store. She slid out feet first and landed on the ground below with cat-like grace. I copied her movements and did the same, except I stumbled a bit on my landing. Ace and Keith followed after that.

"Well, now what?" Ace asked with a hint of annoyance. Our hideout had been discovered, so we couldn't return there; it wasn't safe any longer. Now, we were defenseless. Keith sighed and said, "Guess we find somewhere else. Best do it before it gets dark."

We nodded and started down the alleyways so we could reduce our chances of running into another hoard. It always felt like we were running. Then again, that's all that we could do. Staying still for too long was too much of a risk that we couldn't take.

Behind us, I heard the snarl of a zombie. It started to chase after us, and we quickened up our pace to a slight run. It felt like the day that we no longer had to run, was something we could never reach.

We outran our pursuer, but I knew there would always be another one waiting to take its place. No matter where you turned, one would never be safe. The feeling of constantly being chased would always linger, even if this apocalypse did come to an end.

That was just how things worked. Run, stop for a moment, and run some more. If this cycle was ever broken, then we were as good as dead. So, we stuck to the cycle, and ran some more.

* * *

happy saturday! XP well, read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	19. Play Dead

_Dan_

The sedative finally wore off, allowing me to wake up. I felt groggy and like I was in a daze, but I vividly remembered what happened before I was knocked out. I had found Shun, and he wasn't in the best of shape thanks to these psychopaths.

I started to sit up in my bed, but Runo suddenly ran over to me and forced me to lay back down. "Dan, you shouldn't get up. You might wear yourself out again," she told me. Again? I didn't know that I had worn myself out in the first place. It then hit me that these people probably lied to my friends as to not make them press for the truth.

I brushed Runo's hand off my shoulder and told her, "I didn't wear myself out. They knocked me out with a sedative so I wouldn't tell you guys what I found." Runo didn't seem to believe me at first, but she finally gave in and asked, "You found something?" I nodded.

The others walked over and joined my bedside. "They have Shun here," I told them. Their eyes widened with surprise; it was clear that they weren't expecting to hear this. Murucho asked me, "Are you sure it was Shun you found, Dan?"

I cast my eyes down and said sadly, "Yeah. It was him. Layfair has all of his lackeys doing all kinds of tests and stuff on him. They said something about how Shun might have what they need to complete that serum of their's." I recalled how deathly ill Shun looked, and felt a pang of grief for the pain that my friend must have been enduring.

Murucho asked me, "Do you know what they're doing to him?" An assistant walked into our room and glanced over at us before grabbing a chart from the wall and leaving. When I was sure that she was gone, I told the others, "I wish I didn't know.

Layfair explained it all to me. He said that they've injecting the virus into him several times, but giving him small doses of the serum at the same time to make sure he doesn't turn. It's sick if you ask me." Runo and Julie had their hands over their mouths to try and hide their shock, but it wasn't working. Murucho ran a hand through his blonde hair and shook his head.

"Poor Shun," he said under his breath. I had thought that what these people did to us all these years was demented, but this surpassed anything that we've endured thus far. Runo lowered her hands down and away from her face so she could say, "Wait, if Shun's here, then what if Alice is too? Maybe they caught her as well."

That was an awful thing to think, but it was a possibility. I was sure that after all of the pain and horror that those two went through back on Earth, they would be virtually inseparable from each other. So the possibility that she was locked up in a room somewhere in this lab could be a very real reality.

My hands tightened into fists at my side and I told them defiantly, "When they perfect this serum of their's, they're going to give it to us as a means of testing it. The moment they do that, we have to make a break for it and get out of this place."

Layfair had told us that when all of the kinks were worked out of his serum, he would distribute it everyone that had been infected in order to reverse the damage done in his experiments, but now, I didn't believe him.

I had a feeling that he might keep the four of us locked in this room and do further experimentations on us in order to produce other viruses and such things. And quite frankly, I didn't want to spend the rest of my life as a lab rat. I cast my eyes down at the tiled floor below. _We have to get out of here. _

_Shun_

Off in the distance, I heard what sounded like the faint shrieks of birds, so I opened up my eyes to see if what I heard was right. The bright sun blinded my eyes, causing me to lift my arm up and shield myself from the sudden light. Instantly, I noticed something; my arm didn't look like a decayed limb anymore, it looked like my regular arm.

My eyes had adjusted at this point, and I lowered my arm down and found myself laying beneath the vast blue sky. A flock of birds were flying around in the air above me. Curious as to where I was at, I sat up and took in my surroundings.

I was laying in the middle of a street, garbage and debris littering nearly every square inch of the road, making it useless for vehicular travel. Around me were the dilapidated remains of buildings. I was in a city, but not one of Vestal; it was Bay City.

I was back on Earth, the place where Alice and I had run for our lives to escape the flesh-eating monsters that had taken over. So, if zombies had overrun the planet, then where were they now? The streets were empty and deserted, making me the only form of 'life' anywhere on them.

I started walking down the trash-filled street, looking around every corner and expecting a hoard to emerge, but they never did. As I kept walking, I finally came across Murucho's mansion. Some of the glass windows that made up the exterior of the building had shattered away with time, showing the skeleton that used to hold them in place.

I stepped inside through the front door, which was broken off its hinges when the hoard of zombies busted through and killed everyone except Alice and I. Just like in the streets outside, trash and debris littered the inside of the mansion.

From what little I had seen so far, six years hadn't been good to the achievements of mankind. I wandered about the mansion, passing by pictures of the Marakura family. Some of them still hung on the walls, while others had fallen and the glass frame shattered.

I reached the floor that the others and I used to always stay on while visiting. Streaks of blood ran down the walls from where somebody had pulled their hand along and left it behind like a little kid covered with finger-paint. I continued my ascent through the floors of the mansion, and finally came to stop on the roof.

The landing pad for the jet was empty, making me think that it was most likely still in Moscow where Alice and I had left it behind. Bloodstains covered the roof, but just like everywhere else, there were no bodies that it belonged to. I found myself walking towards the edge of the roof, and I looked out at the city.

Buildings were slowly decaying away as disrepair caught up with them, signaling that all people were really gone. A light breeze rushed across the roof of the Marakura mansion, but it didn't carry any foul stench of death and rot like I thought it would have.

In fact, the air smelled clean, almost like after a good rain. When I thought about, if it weren't for the bloodstains that covered this city, somebody might have just thought that all of the people suddenly vanished from the world, rather than being ripped to shreds and turned into living corpses.

I finally departed from the roof and exited the mansion. Now, I was back on the streets below and continued to walk around, examining the skeletal remains of what once was my home. As I walked towards the limits of the city, I found the wrecked car that Dan and the others had taken in order to get out of the dojo and try to make it to Murucho's.

The back was still filled with all of the supplies they took with them, cans and boxes of dried goods were still scattered about inside. Leaving the wreckage behind, I crossed the city limits and walked along the back roads that led to my old home.

The gates of the dojo were still flung wide open. I remembered how I had used myself as live bait to distract the zombies so Dan and the others had a chance to escape. The dojo, like everything else, was empty. The rice paper sliding doors had long fallen down, making it easy for anything to wander inside.

Although, the still silence inside told me that not even vermin was inhabiting the abandoned home. I walked through the kitchen and into the living room. My eyes fell on the couch, the location of where I had been given no choice but to put a zombiefied Julie out of her misery.

The blanket that we had covered over her body was still laid haphazardly on the floor, covered in her blood. Seeing that there was nothing in the dojo that concerned me any longer, I left it all behind me and continued on my walk. I was now going down the streets that would eventually take me into another town, but I knew what else laid ahead and was hidden in the dark; it was the old lab.

Above ground, it looked like nothing more than a ramshackle house, but I knew better than that. I knew what evil was beneath this mask. For a moment, I stood in front of the faux house, debating on whether or not I really wanted to go down into the lab.

Deciding that it couldn't hurt anything, I stepped inside and found the secret door that led down into the secret building beneath. As I walked down the stairs, the walls turned from sheetrock to steel, causing a rather loud echo to bounce around with every step I took.

Almost every wall in the lab was covered with bloody handprints from where zombies had broken in and tore apart all of the staff that helped create the virus. In all actuality, I felt that dying by their very creation was a very fitting end.

As I walked, I stepped on something, which cracked beneath my weight. When I lifted up my foot, I found several bones laying on the ground. It then occurred to me why there was nobody left on Earth; they all decayed away. The zombies were nothing more than dead bodies, so of course decomposition would eventually take them over and cause them to rot completely away.

I kept on my way through the lab and found the old observation room. The control panel and observation window were caked with dried blood. I had witnessed when the zombies breached this room and tore their unsuspecting victims to pieces.

That had been when I realized that I needed to get out of this place before the same thing happened to me. I ran a hand across the bloodied control panel, and accidentally flipped a switch. The lights then flickered on, much to my surprise; I thought the electricity would have been long gone.

The florescent lights made the dark crimson of the blood on the white walls stand out. I was about to go into another room when I heard a low moaning begin to emerge from the hallways in front of and behind me. Not long after that, zombies started to pour into the observation room from both sides.

Their dead eyes locked on me, and I slowly backed away, but found that I was cornered against the control panel. To try and put a bit more distance between them and I, I climbed up onto the control panel and pressed my back against the observation window.

One of them reached out for me, and I kicked its hand away, causing it to fall off from the arm attached to it. They were all starting to get closer and closer to me, and all I could do was try and press my back further against the glass.

Suddenly, I heard something crack, and the observation window gave out from behind me, causing me to fall down into the examining room twenty feet below. I landed on my back, causing me to become temporarily stunned by the fall.

I laid on the ground and looked up at the florescent lights above me. They went out of focus for a moment, and when they returned back to normal, I saw people in lab coats all around me, some of them holding syringes in their hands.

One of them then said while looking at a vial of blood, "There, I think we've finally gotten enough. Layfair should be pleased." The edges of my vision started to turn black, and when I closed my eyes, I found myself resuming right where I had left off in my dream turned nightmare, if it had ever been a dream from the start.

* * *

_chapter title based off the song Play Dead by HIM. _aye, it's sunday. i don't like sundays. it usually is followed by monday. -.- read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	20. Breakthrough

_Layfair_

A knock sounded from my study door, and Henry entered shortly after. He gave me a nod as a greeting and told me, "We have some good news, sir. It seems that our specialists have harvested enough of those cells from that kid." I found myself smiling with this news. I hadn't thought that 388 would have produced enough of his white cells within this short of time. _Then again, I did have them infect him with the virus every hour, _I mused to myself.

I sat up from my desk and asked Henry, "Have they added it to the serums yet?" He gave me a slight nod to answer my question. "Excellent," I said while walking around my desk and out of the door. As I brushed past Henry, and stepped out into the hallway. "Sir, where are you going?" he asked me.

I stopped and turned on my heels to face my assistant. "I'm going to check on the serum's progress and see how it performs in the field," I told him and tucked my hands away in white lab coat's pockets. Seeing that our conversation had died there, I continued on my way down to the lab, Henry following me all the way.

When I reached the lab, I typed in the code to unlock the door and stepped inside. It was cooler in this room than any other in the underground lab complex to keep things sanitary. Lab specialists looked up from their work and at me, obviously surprised by my unannounced visit. I crossed my arms behind my back and strode across the room to where the head of this lab was.

His back was faced towards me as he was hunched over a microscope slide and diligently trying to place the plastic cover over whatever sample he was preparing to look at. "Hello," I said into his ear, causing him to jump at the sound of my voice.

He quickly spun around in his chair, and when he realized it was me, he stood up straight and gave me a salute. "Hello, sir!" he said sharply, almost like he was in the military. I shook my head, ignoring his actions and said, "I heard that you have my new serum developed? Am I correct, Quinn?"

The scientist nodded his head vigorously and ran over to another table. He ran his hands along and over multitudes of vials, nearly dropping some onto the floor, until he surfaced with the one he was searching for. "Here it is, sir!" He ran back over to me and placed the vial in my hands.

I examined the light blue liquid, wondering if this was really the product that I had been working so hard to achieve. If it was, then it was right there in my hands, and my plans could move forward. "Has is been tested yet?" I asked while setting the vial down on a table next to me.

Quinn nodded again and told me with enthusiasm, "We injected it into one of the zombies that have been captured recently, and they have yet to revert back into the living dead. That was nearly five hours ago, the longest amount of time without a relapse, I might add."

Quinn ran over to the other side of the room, typed a bit on a keyboard, and stepped back. A cage began to rise from the floor, a person locked inside of it. To get a better look, I walked up to the cage and looked inside. It was a woman inside, who, at one point, had been killed by the virus and turned into a zombie. Now, she had yet to revert back thanks to this new serum.

"How long will it take for us to know if the effects are permanent?" I asked without taking my gaze from the possibly-cured woman. Quinn joined my side and told me with a smile, "We're way ahead of that. We have a sample of the serum, mixed with a sample of flesh infected from the virus, and we're basically simulating the time span of up to a hundred years to see how long it will last. So far, we've run this test several different times and in several different scenarios, and it has shown no signs of relapsing like the other serums."

He then turned and looked right at me, and with a hint of sureness in his voice, he told me, "Sir, I think we've finally perfected your serum." I smiled and stepped away from the cage. From behind me, I could hear it being lowered back down into the floor. I returned back to the table where I had placed the vial at, and picked it up.

As I gazed down at the light blue liquid, I told them, "If you're all sure that it has been perfected, start making more of it. Give a dose to all of our 'patients' and monitor their results." I tossed the vial to Quinn, who barely caught it before it smashed onto the floor. I was about to walk out of the lab, but quickly remembered something.

Without turning around, I told them, "Don't give any to 388 yet though. If this doesn't work or requires more, then I want to be able to have access to the source. Understood?" They nodded and I exited the lab. I knew if they gave a dose to 388, and we came to discover that we needed more of the mutated cells, we would be unable to infect him in order to get more.

We could have always copied the DNA and build the cells, but I wanted to exert all of my resources before doing any of that. If I were to have to produce faux cells, it would only be because I was out of other options. I tucked my hands back into my lab coat pockets and returned to my study, feeling accomplished.

_Dan_

A nurse came walking into our room, holding a tray of four syringes, each filled to the brim with a light blue liquid. She gave us a smile that was just a bit too warm-hearted and sat the tray down on a table. The nurse then took one of the syringes and walked over to Murucho, where she began to clean a spot off on his arm where the needle will go.

"So, what's this one supposed to do?" I asked coldly from my bed. The nurse took the cap off of the syringe and said, "This is the final serum, the one that Mr. Layfair has finally perfected. It will cure you and keep you from turning into those monsters, possibly even keep you from dying for a very long time as well."

She then stuck the needle into Murucho's arm, and the short blonde bit down on his lower lip to try and combat the pain. I watched as the plunger pushed the serum into his arm until there was none left. The short blonde rubbed his arm where the needle had punctured and mouthed, "Ow."

The nurse then moved onto Runo and Julie and did the same thing to them. Now, she was prepping my arm to be injected. I sat there, not saying or doing anything. They had finally perfected this thing, and it only required them putting Shun through hell in order to get it.

Was he even still alive, or had they killed him already? I felt the burning pain of the needle being stuck into my arm, but I didn't do anything to struggle against it. She finished up after that and left out of our room, probably to go and give doses to the other people that were trapped in this lab like us.

I then swung my legs to the side of my bed and slid out, my feet touching down onto the cold tile floor. Behind me, Runo asked, "What are you doing, Dan?" I had gone over to the room's supply closet and pulled out a white lab coat and scrubs.

"I'm going undercover," I told them while slipping into the clothes. Murucho run up to me and asked, "What are you talking about?" I slid my arms through the lab coat sleeves and said, "They just said that we're cured now, so we have no reason to be afraid of straying away from the lab and dying. So, I'm going to take advantage of it and find Shun, then get all of us out of here before they try any other experiments on us."

My three friends exchanged looks before turning back to me. "How do you expect to get Shun out without being noticed, or even getting out of here for that matter?" Runo asked me in her nagging tone that she had when she normally didn't approve of something I was about to do.

I ran a hand through my hair and told her, "I don't expect to get out of here without getting noticed, I have a feeling we will. I just expect to run as fast as we can and get out." I hurried out of our room without giving her the chance to say anything else to me.

Quickly, I recalled that I couldn't get into any of the rooms without a code, so I decided to wander around and maybe catch somebody typing one in. During my search, I found what must have been the employee 'break room.' Inside, there were several mini fridges and coffee machines, but what caught my eye, was the identification tag that somebody had left out on the table.

_Personal Entrance Code _was written beneath the name, followed by a series of numbers. Seeing that this might have been my key, I snatched it up and retraced my steps to where I had last seen Shun. As I ran down the hallways, I passed by several assistants, who only glanced at me as I hurried past them; as far as they were concerned, I was just somebody that was in a hurry.

This just proved how low these people were; they didn't even remember the faces of their tormented victims. I came up to the lab that I had found Shun in, and quickly typed in the code on the identification card. The little red light flicked to green and I opened the door.

Once inside, I turned around and blocked the door with a metal folding chair that had been placed against the wall nearby, just in case anyone snuck up on me while I was inside. When I was sure that the door was secure, I turned around and ran towards Shun.

He was still laid out on the same examination table, just as many wires sticking out of him, and the same sickly appearance as when I had last seen him. Perhaps he looked a bit worse, but I really wasn't concerned with all the details.

Now that I had Shun within my reach, I realized that I didn't know what steps to take next. I knew Layfair had Shun on the brink of death, and was only keeping him alive via small doses of one of the old serums. So, I knew the moment that wore off, Shun was going to die.

I ran a hand through my hair and began to scour the room for any sign of a serum, whether it be the new or old one. I eventually found a cabinet and opened it up. Inside, were shelves lined with small vials with numbers taped on the sides.

I recognized the highest number as the last injection I received before the perfected serum. _This is gonna have to do for now, _I thought to myself and snatched the vial from its compartment. After finding the vial, I searched a bit for a syringe, which was much easier to find. With the tools I needed, I ran back over to Shun and filled the syringe with the serum.

"Sorry if this hurts a bit, buddy, but it's gotta be done," I told him while sticking the needle into his arm. He didn't even so much as flinch. I injected the serum into him and waited for it to take effect. In a matter of minutes, I saw Shun slowly opening his eyes, and the black discoloration on his arm and neck going away, leaving behind the color of normal skin.

"Huh?" he said weakly while looking around. His eyes finally locked onto me, and they widened a bit. "Dan? No, I'm hallucinating again," he said hoarsely while shaking his head. I tossed the syringe and vial into a trash can and told him, "You're not hallucinating, Shun. It's me."

He looked at me with confusion in his eyes. "How? You're supposed to be dead. You and the others are dead." I realized that Shun was just in the dark about all of this as we were at first.

"We were dead, but these…..Psychopaths brought us back to life. All of us. Runo, Julie, Murucho, and me. They brought us all back. Listen, Shun, I'll fill you in on all of this later. Right now, we need to hurry up and get out of here."

I held out my hand, knowing that he would need some stability until he regained most of his strength. Shun stared at it for a moment before allowing me to help him onto his feet. He stumbled for a moment, but quickly found his balance. Even with one of the recent serums in him, he still looked weak and sickly.

How much had they taken out of him? I pushed that horrible thought out of my mind and quickly led him out of the observation room, then proceeded to hurry him back to the room that I shared with the others, trying my best to keep from being seen by anyone wandering the halls.

* * *

well, Dan has broken Shun out of the lab(kinda). **also, as many of you know, it is election day. wanna take part in a poll? then go to my profile and vote on the one i have now! (it concerns my old story _Wolf's Howling_) so let your voice be heard and vote!** (not for revenge, but for the love of fanfiction) read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	21. Collapse

_Dan_

I arrived back to my room without being seen, much to my relief. Shun, despite obviously still being weak from all of the hell he had been through recently, kept up with me fairly well. I knocked on the heavy steel door and said loud enough to be heard on the other side, "Hey, it's Dan! Open up, guys!"

The door then swung open, and Shun and I quickly slipped inside. The moment the door closed behind us, I turned around and saw that the others had already embraced Shun in a hug. "Shun!" they squealed. He stood there for a moment, most likely trying to take in the fact that his once-dead friends really were alive. Julie was the first to break the hug and she asked him, "Surprised to see us?"

Murucho and Runo also broke free and stepped back. Shun continued to stare at them, and slowly nodded to answer Julie's question. "Can somebody please explain to me how you all are alive now?" he asked. Back in the observation room that I had gone into the get Shun, I didn't explain to him how we were all still alive, but gave him the shortest version that I could come up with instead.

So, he deserved to know how his friends were standing in front of him now. I told him, "Why don't you take a seat while we explain what's going on?" He nodded and sat on the edge of a bed. I began to gather up my words and elaborated the recent events to him.

"You see, that mad scientist guy, Layfair, he's been developing a serum to counteract the virus that turned us into zombies," I started. Murucho jumped in and added the more technical details. "It's designed to restore dead, and even lost tissue and muscle. That's how I'm standing here right now. It was actually able to regenerate all of my body."

After Murucho put in his statement, I resumed speaking. "Layfair's also taken more people, or zombies, from both Earth and Vestal to do the same experiments on them as he's done us. Although, until recently, none of his serum's effects have been permanent. Sadly, it's cause of all of the stuff he did to you that it now has a permanent effect," my voice trailed off.

Shun leaned forward a bit and asked me, "What all did they do to me while I was out? I mean, the last thing I remember was passing out in the streets. That's it….." I could see that this blank space in Shun's memory was bothering him, but there was also something else, something deeper that was troubling him.

"Layfair explained it all to me when I first found you. You remember the antidote that you were injected with back on Earth? Well, somehow what was left of it combined with your cells, and Layfair told me that those cells were the only reason you had lasted that long while infected," I paused for a moment to let Shun register what I was saying.

When he nodded, I continued. "So, he decided to take those cells and put them into the serum so the effects may be permanent, but he needed a lot of them, and in order to get the amount he needed, he infected you with the virus God-knows how many times. It would have killed you, but they were also giving you just enough of one of the serums to keep you alive, but not enough for you to heal," I told him sadly.

What they had put Shun through was more than anyone could have possibly handled. Shun narrowed his eyes and adverted his gaze down towards the floor. He muttered under his breath with hostility, "Sick bastards…" I was sure I would have had the same kind of mindset after learning what kind of atrocities had been performed on me.

I then ran a hand through my hair, catching a few knots along the way, and sighed. "But I have a feeling that the worst is about to come." Everyone's eyes were on me, but Shun was the only one that didn't know what I meant by that.

I told him, "Layfair, now that he has his serum perfected, is going to cure all of the people that he had infected, but is now going to turn around and sell the virus as a biological weapon to other worlds, then sell the serum to the victimized worlds. This will be happening everywhere if he does that."

Had I covered it all? Was there anything vital that I left out? Shun crossed his arms over his chest and said flatly, "Then we need to stop him before he has the chance to do any of that."

Murucho raised his hand, as if asking for permission to jump back into the conversation, and said, "Um, I don't think it will be that easy. We should most likely get out of here and regroup, so that way we won't be on their territory and at a disadvantage. In other words, we should get out of here first before we take any plan of action against Layfair."

Shun's expression changed for a moment, and he cast his eyes down. "Hey, what's up, buddy?" I asked, growing concerned. He glanced up at me and said sadly, "I just remembered that Alice and the others were still out there before I was taken here."

So, Alice was still alive when Shun became a lab rat, but who were the others? Runo, as if reading my mind, asked him, "Others?" Shun nodded and said hoarsely, "The Vestals. Mira, Ace, Keith, and Baron. Alice and I met up with them when the second virus was let loose."

It had been smart of Shun to team up with a group; doing things like that could increase your chances of surviving. _But at the same time it can backfire and turn against you, _I thought bitterly as I remembered the traitor that released to hoard into Murucho's mansion, killing everyone inside except Shun and Alice.

Runo gave a slight smile and said, "Well, I'm sure Shun is going to want to try and find Alice, so we have another reason to get out of here as soon as possible." Shun gave her a single nod to show that he agreed. I walked across the room and looked at the map of the lab that was screwed on the wall, in case of emergencies such as fire, or zombie invasion.

I eventually found our room, and used my finger to trace through the hallways until I found the nearest exit. Behind me, Runo asked, "What in the world are you doing, Dan?" Without turning around, I told her, "Planning our escape route. What's it look like?"

I could tell she rolled her eyes at me, even without seeing it. When I was sure that I could get us out of here without making a wrong turn, I told the others, "Alright, I think I found the quickest way out of here. So, let's get a move on."

_Dan_

I poked my head out of the door and checked both ways down the hall for anyone passing by. When I was sure that the cost was clear, I motioned for the others to follow me and we hurried out of the room, the heavy steel door clicking closed behind us.

There was no turning back for us now. It was either get out now, or never get out at all. I led our group down several halls, keeping my eyes open for the room numbers that I had paid attention to on the map as landmarks. I felt that we were nearing the exit that I had designated. "It should be just up ahead!"

I shouted back to the others behind me. I was about to round a corner and go down another hallway, when I heard Murucho. He shouted at me, "Dan! Hold up!" I skidded to a halt and turned around, wondering what was so important for us to stop when we were practically at the exit.

It was only when I saw Shun leaning against the wall, struggling to stand, did I realize what was going on. I ran back over to the others, which were crowded around Shun, and pushed past them to reach my friend. Now that I was closer, I saw that the black discoloration was starting to return on his arm with a vengeance.

"Damn. I forgot that the serum I gave you wasn't the one Layfair perfected," I hissed under my breath. Shun was clutching onto his sides, and he slid down the wall and onto to his knees as he was grew weaker. If we didn't do something soon, the serum was going to wear off and he wasn't going to make it.

"We've got to find where Layfair's keeping his new serum and give it to Shun, and quick," I said sternly. I turned back to Shun and asked him, "Do you think you can possibly keep going?" He glanced up at me, the dark circles returning around his eyes. "I don't know," he said breathlessly and cringed as the black decay started to slither back up his arm.

My hands tightened into fists at my sides. What was I to do? I had no idea where Layfair was keeping his serum, and I didn't have time to waste looking for it; Shun needed it now.

I ran a hand through my hair and finally said, "I'm going to go and search for that serum. You guys duck away into a storage room or something and keep an eye on Shun, and for anybody that's looking for us."

They nodded, not even protesting the slightest bit to what I had just told them. Without waiting to see which way they were going, I turned and ran back down the hall, searching for wherever that serum might be.

_Keith_

We had yet to find another place to hunker down in since being run off from our last hideout. Our group was tired, and it was clear that some of our optimism was fading away. Night had fallen over the remains of Vestal sometime ago, and the last of the electricity finally went out as well, leaving the streets pitch black, minus the light radiating off of Vestal's moons.

This was a dangerous time to be out in the streets; we were unable to see what was coming at us, or even where each other was at times. We were all at a serious disadvantage, and needed to seek shelter as soon as humanly possible. At last, we finally settled on hiding out underneath a bridge as our last resort.

It was open on both sides, giving us an easy escape if need be. As we stayed huddled up as far up under the bridge as we could get, things finally began to set it; this is what we had been reduced to, cowering beneath a bridge when had taken out God-knows how many of those creatures out there.

Then again, that was when our group was stronger, and not cracking under the weight of grief of our lost friends. Now, we were probably at the weakest we had ever been. I found myself looking up at the underside of the bridge above us. It was damp and musty, and water dripped from cracks in the concrete structure.

At this point, Baron, if he were still with us, would have asked how long we would be here at this bridge, and either Ace or I would tell him that we didn't know. It still didn't feel like our young friend was gone, and when I kept telling myself that he was, it felt all the more surreal.

And no matter how much everyone told me to stop blaming myself for what happened up on that roof, I still held myself accountable for Baron's death. Beside me, I could hear the slow breathing patterns of the others, which told me they were asleep now.

_After all that we've been through up till now, they deserve to get some rest. _I found my own eyes growing heavy with fatigue, and I closed them for what seemed like a minute, but was actually hours, for when I woke up, it was morning.

Although, the way I was pulled from my slumber wasn't the way I wished. I had been jolted awake by a sharp pain in the calf of my leg, and when my eyes flew open and looked to see what was going on, I found that I zombie had crawled up to where we were at, and had bitten down on my leg.

My eyes widened as I stared in shock, knowing full well what fate was to become of me now, but my shock quickly wore off and I kicked the zombie off, causing him to slide back down. "Wake up! We have to leave! Now!" I shouted at the others when I realized that more of the living corpses were making their way towards us.

They held their noses up in the air, sniffing. _They smell my blood. I'm why they're coming after us. _The others bolted up the moment they saw what was going on. I pointed back towards the city and told them, "Go on! Get out of here!"

As the zombies started to try and crawl back up to get us, I realized that none of us had any weapons to fight back with; they all had been left back at the store. Ace quickly asked me, "What about you? Aren't you coming with us?" It was obvious none of them had noticed the chunk of flesh that had been taken out of my leg.

So, to let them know, I glanced down, and their gaze followed. Their faces turned pale, but none more than Mira's. "If I go with you guys, they'll just track the scent of my blood. Now, just go!" I snapped. Alice and Ace exchanged looks, but didn't budge. "But, Keith," Alice started.

I narrowed my eyes at them and said sternly, "No buts! Get out of here!" The three of them stood there for a bit longer, then reluctantly got out of dodge. Once I was sure that they were gone, I turned and ran in the other direction, the zombies lumbering after me.

I scrambled back up the hill and returned to the streets above, where I was met with several more zombies hunting the scent of my fresh blood. Deciding that I wasn't going to go down without a fight, I began to scour for a weapon.

Eventually, I ran over to one of the flying cars that had plummeted to the streets and crashed, and tore off its windshield wipers. As zombies got near me, I rammed the wipers into their skulls. One had slipped past me and was now behind me, where he sunk his teeth into my shoulder.

I cried out and tried to stab it with the wiper from behind, but was unable to get him. Then, a bullet shot into my attacker's skull and he fell to the ground. When I followed the direction of where it came from, and found Mira standing there, a pistol held tightly in her hands and tears streaking down her face.

She then turned and shot several more rounds, taking out the rest of the zombies that had been drawn by the scent of my blood. I already felt myself growing weak, and I stumbled back and sat down on the ground, leaning my back against the base of a building.

My sister dropped the pistol and ran over to my side. I turned and looked at her. "I thought I told you and the others to go. And where did you get that pistol from?" I asked, glancing back at the weapon that she had dropped. I had thought that we left all of our weapons back in the store, but I was obviously mistaken.

She wiped a tear from her eyes and told me, "It was on my person when we left, but I only had about ten rounds, so I was saving them for an emergency or when we really needed them." Her eyes then went back and forth from the bite wound on my shoulder and leg, and more tears streaked down her face.

"You can't die, Keith. There's already been too much loss, and I don't want to deal with anymore," she said with a sob. I then placed my hand on her shoulder as a means of comfort and told her weakly, "I know, but there's nothing that can be done. Now, you need to get going before I turn, okay?"

I could already feel myself growing weaker every second, and I wondered how Shun had tolerated this kind of suffering for as long as he did before finally succumbing to it. Mira let another sob escape, and she stood up, but instead of walking away and towards the direction of where Alice and Ace had gone, she went over to one of the zombies that she had shot dead.

"Mira? What are you doing?" I asked hoarsely. She gave me a sad smile, and placed her lithe arm towards the mouth of the dead corpse, and applied pressure until the teeth broke her skin, and a thin line of blood trickled down and onto the ground. "Mira! What are you doing!" I shouted at her.

Did she realize what she had just done? Mira walked back over to where I was sitting and knelt down beside me. My eyes fell to the forced bite mark on her arm, and I still didn't believe that she did what she did.

Mira looked me straight in the eyes and said in a surprisingly stern voice, "Keith, we've both lost too much. We lost father years ago, along with our friends in this apocalypse. But I'm not going to lose the last family I have left and be left alone. Do you understand? I don't want to lose anything else, especially not the remainder of my family."

I felt a single tear form and spill over my eye, and I blinked away anymore that may have been trying to form. I then told her, "I don't want to come back as one of those things. Mira, are there any rounds left in that pistol?"

She shook her head, and feeling so defeated, I shut my eyes and allowed the tears to flow freely now. "Alright, then," I said in a shaky voice. "Guess we just wait then." Mira nodded and sat down beside me, and we both waited for our worlds to go black.

* * *

yup. that happened. for those that have read _Wolf's Howling _check out my profile and vote on the poll concerning a possible sequel to the story. (it's looking good so far.) read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	22. Numb

_Alice_

Ace suddenly stopped running, and when I turned around, I saw why; Mira wasn't with us. The mint-haired boy scanned over the streets and shouted, "Mira? Where'd you go!" There was no answer, and no sign of the orange-haired girl.

When I thought about it, the last I had really seen of her, was back under the bridge when we had to run away as a small hoard swept through. Keith hadn't gone with us, since he had unfortunately been bitten by one of the creatures. It then occurred to me that Mira might have chased after her brother, despite the fact that there was nothing she could do for him.

Or maybe she was caught by a zombie. Either scenario was possible. Ace then bolted back in the direction we came from, and I quickly chased after him. I finally caught up with him and jumped in front of him, blocking his path. "What are you doing, Ace?" I asked, constantly jumping in front of him as he tried to go around me.

He ran a hand through his hair and said in a shaky voice, "We've got to find Mira. I can't just leave her." At last, he snaked his way around me, but I caught his wrist and kept him from going any further. "Ace, I hate to say this, but odds are if Mira isn't with us now, then there's nothing to go back for. I'm sorry, but I fear that she may have suffered the same fate as Keith."

Ace shook his head and snatched his wrist free from my hand. "No! We've got to at least look for her! She could still be alive!" he snapped at me. There was a slim chance that she had survived our latest encounter, but that was just it, it was a _slim _chance. "Ace…..," I said softly.

"I know what you're going through, losing somebody you care about. It's not an easy thing to accept, but you have to see the light. This world will take all that you hold precious, and there's nothing that you can do about it other than accept it. Both Shun and I learned that lesson rather quickly."

Ace continued to shake his head, and I thought I saw tears forming. He cared for Mira; that was clear as day. And I knew the pain from loss he was experiencing was horrible, for I had been through it one too many times. I gently placed my hand on his shoulder.

"Ace, we need to keep moving. Mira would want you to make it, I'm sure," I told him calmly. I could see the reluctance in his eyes, but he eventually turned around and we continued the way we had been going before our horrible realization.

As we covered more ground, Ace suddenly asked me, "How can you deal with it so well?" His eyes were cast down, and they looked so distant and far off. I knew what he meant though. He was wondering how I was able to handle the pain of losing somebody like this.

Shrugging my shoulders, I told him, "I don't know. It's not easy, I can tell you that. Perhaps the overall reality hasn't hit me yet, or maybe the pain has just numbed me up. But you carry on nonetheless." I hoped that was a good enough answer for him, for I didn't really know how to put the handling of grief into words.

Up ahead on the street we were traveling down, I saw Vestal Palace towering over all of the other buildings. I recalled the stories that Shun and the other Vestals told me about their final stand there against Zenoheld. But the old king had been gone for many years, replaced by a government to make sure things moved smoothly.

I was sure that it had been overrun by zombies as well, seeing that nowhere was safe in a world dominated by the virus. Next to me, Ace veered off our course of travel and looked into the window of a building. I cautiously approached him from behind and asked, "Now, what?"

He had his hands cupped around his eyes to cut down on glare as he peered inside. "I'm looking for something we could use as weapons…I don't want to get caught off guard like early and you end up like Keith, Mira, or Baron. I feel like I at least owe Shun that much."

I cast my eyes down when he said Shun's name. It felt like such a long time since I had last seen him, when it had only been a couple of days. I remembered how we all assumed he was dead, consumed by the ravenous zombies that broke into the bunker, but he had proven us wrong when he showed up and saved us from a hoard that would have surely overpowered us.

He hadn't been in the best shape though, and was most likely nearing his end. But I hadn't really cared about it at first; I was too happy to know that he was still alive for the moment. I snapped from my thoughts and gave Ace a sad smile.

"I'm sure he would have appreciated that," I told him. Ace stepped back from the window and said, "It looks like its clear inside. Just in case, stay near me while in there." I nodded and walked with him up to the front door of the building.

He finally pushed the door open, which had apparently been closed off with piles of stuff. To me, this signaled that somebody had been in here and tried to wait the virus out. Inside, I saw that the building was actually a hardware store.

Tools of all sorts hung on the shelves and were also scattered on the ground. Ace glanced back and me and held an index finger up to his lips, telling me to stay quiet as we searched the store for anything we could use to defend ourselves in case of another zombie attack.

Ace picked up a hatchet, much like the one he had back at the hideout, and examined it before giving a nod of approval. He then whispered to me, "You find something too." I nodded and broke away from him as I searched for my weapon of choice. I turned down one aisle and found several crowbars hanging up on their hooks.

Reaching up, I took one down and held it in my hands. It wasn't all that heavy, so I would be able to handle it with ease. Deciding that this was as good as anything, I took it with me and turned left that particular aisle. I was curious to know if there might be anything smaller that I could keep on my person in case I was separated from my crowbar, so I continued to skim around.

I was then stopped dead in my tracks at the sight in the back of the store. There were decay remains of a person, and a hand pistol laying beside them in its hand. Blood splattered the wall behind what was left of his head, and I instantly knew that this person took their own life rather than having it taken by a carnivorous corpse.

My eyes then fell back to the hand pistol. If there were any rounds left in the chamber, it could end up being a last resort weapon. Cautiously, I stepped over the dead body and pried the pistol out of the decaying fingers. Ace rounded the corner and asked me, "Find any-…Oh."

I glanced up at him and tossed him the hand pistol, which he barely caught. "We can use that in case of an emergency," I told him and stepped away from the body. He nodded and tucked the gun under his belt. Seeing that there was nothing else for us here, we cautiously left the hardware store, weapons at the ready, and went on our way.

_Dan_

I was hidden back in a corridor as two nurses walked past me in the hallway. They carried on their conversation, never even noticing that I was hidden away right there beside them. When I could no longer see them, I ran out and continued my search.

I had to hurry and find Layfair's new serum and give it to Shun before my friend perished from the virus that he had been infected with so many times. I had gone off and left him with the others, telling them to hide out somewhere safe until I returned with the serum.

Hopefully, I would get back to them in time before it was too late. Using the code from the identification card I had taken earlier, I unlocked each room I passed by, first making sure nobody was inside it, and searched for any sign of the serum.

So far, I had come up empty-handed, and I was starting to wonder if I'd ever find it in this massive underground lab. I had finished searching another floor, and found myself faced with a staircase. Pulling open the heavy steel door, I descended down, praying that I didn't run into anyone coming back up.

I figured I had reached the lowest level of the lab, seeing as there was only one room connected to the end of the staircase. Cautiously, I pulled open the door and peered inside. There was only one person inside, and he was bent over a microscope and staring intently down the lens.

The room was large and dimly lit, and vials covered every square inch of countertop space. If the serum wasn't anywhere in here, then I had no clue where else it'd be. Quietly, I stepped inside without even so much as grabbing the attention of the man hovering over the microscope.

I then headed over to the vials and looked them over. I remembered the color of the latest serum, and also its number that had been on the label of the vials the nurse injected into me and the others. None of these were labeled though, and none of them appeared to be the shade of blue I was looking for.

Perhaps I couldn't really tell due to the poor lighting. I took a step back and accidentally bumped into a cart. The vials on it rattled, but didn't break. The lonely man that was inhabiting this lab shot away from his microscope and turned to look at me. I stood there, frozen in my place.

His eyes narrowed at me and he asked, "Who are you? What business do you have with me?" I was still in too much shock from being caught. Would this guy do anything to hurt me? Probably. Turn me into Layfair and let that psycho torment me? Most likely.

I then remembered that I was 'incognito' as an assistant, still wearing the lab coat and identification card I swiped from the break room. "I'm, uh, here to bring Layfair some more samples of the serum. Yeah, that's why I'm here," I lied. The man narrowed his eyes even more at me, and I was sure he had caught me in my lie.

But they quickly widened back up and he smiled. "Alright, then! Anything for Mister Layfair! Here, how many do you need?" I stared, dumbstruck at the fact that he had bought my lie. "Uh, how about ten?" I decided it might be smart to take extra in case any of us ran into some trouble while out in the zombie-infested world of Vestal.

The man nodded and filled a metal briefcase-looking thing with the ten vials. Each one fit neatly against the foam-padded inside, and the man clicked the latches closed. He was about to hand me the case, but stopped and tilted his head to the side. "You know, I don't think I've seen you around the labs before. Are you new?"

I gulped and nodded slowly, hoping he wasn't starting to see through my disguise. He then smiled and said, "Of course! That's why I don't recognize you! Well, in case you ever need something else from me, my name's Quinn." I smiled nervously and pointed to the identification tag pinned on my lab coat.

"Uh, this is mine," I said nervously. He looked down at the tag and said, "It's nice to meet you…Jackson. Well, I guess I've held you and Mister Layfair's request up long enough. Here ya go." He handed over the metal case to me, and I quickly took it, relief flooding over me now that I had the serums at long last.

"Thanks," I told him and hurried over to the door, but remembered something and grabbed up several packaged syringes so I would be able to give the serum to Shun or anyone else that may have needed them. Once I was done with that, I ran back upstairs and retraced my steps back to where I had left the others at, praying all the way that I wasn't too late.

* * *

_chapter title based off the song Numb by Linkin Park. _check out my poll if you havent done so yet, and wish me luck for tomorrow, for i have a VERY important audition! if i make it, then i'll get to go the Germany and compete internationally! so, fingers crossed! X) read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	23. The Great Escape

_Dan_

I returned to the floor that I left Shun and the others on. There was nobody else there as far as I could see, and I knew that the others were hidden somewhere on this floor. But I didn't have the time to go to each room and look inside to see if I could find them, so I shouted, "Runo! Murucho! Julie! Where are you guys! I got the serum!"

I was most likely blowing my cover and signaling my location, but we were so close to getting out of here, I didn't feel like it mattered any longer. When there was no answer from the others, I ran to another part of the floor and shouted again. "Guys! It's me! You can come out now!" Behind me, I heard a door click, and when I turned, I saw Murucho poking his head out.

"Dan!" he whispered under his breath. "In here!" I tightened my grip on the steel briefcase in my hand and ran into the room that Murucho had appeared from, which I quickly found out was a broom closet. I shut the door behind me, making sure to lock the latch back in case anyone did see where I ran off to. It was dark in the small room, but I was able to make out Murucho stepping up onto a small ladder and reach for something.

There was a click, and the room became ablaze with the light from one small light bulb. It swayed back and forth from being touched, but quickly settled down and returned to a state of stillness. Now that I was able to see, I found Julie and Runo were knelt down beside Shun, trying to do all they could to make him hold on till I arrived back.

He was laying on the floor shivered and appeared to be in pain as the virus rebelled back against him. His arm was about like it was when I first found him in the lab; nearly completely consumed by the discoloration. I snapped back to reality, reminding myself that I had the thing that could end Shun's suffering and cure him as it had done us.

Kneeling down beside my ailing friend, I unsnapped the locks on the steel case, revealing the ten vials of serum that Quinn had given to me back in his lab. My hands were shaking with nervousness and adrenaline after all I had been through in order to get these vials, and I was almost unable to get a grip on them.

Frustrated at myself, I turned to Murucho and told him, "You give it to him. I'm afraid my hands aren't steady enough right now." Murucho gave me a nod of understanding as he took the vial and syringe away from me and prepped it.

He then placed the needle above Shun's arm, then slowly slid the needle in. Shun flinched for a moment, then relaxed as the serum was plunged into his body. When the syringe was empty, Murucho tossed it to the side and out of sight in case anyone came into the closet later on and saw it.

"Now, we wait," Runo said. This serum was working quicker on him that the older one I gave him when I broke him out of that lab, for the discoloration was fading away at a faster rate. Shun opened his eyes slightly and looked up at us. I smiled sadly and asked him, "Feeling better now?"

He forced himself to sit up and said hoarsely, "Yeah." The serum may have been fighting against the virus and winning, but Shun was still left in a weakened state from all that Layfair had put him through. Murucho asked him, "Do you think you're able to walk on your own now, Shun? If not, then I'm sure it won't hurt if we stay in here for a bit longer."

He shook his head and told us, "I think I can make it on my own now." I wasn't so sure about that, but there was no point in arguing with him. Once we were out of here, Shun would have plenty of time to finish recovering. I helped my weakened friend up to his feet, and much to my surprise, he was able to stand without so much as losing his balance once.

"Alright, if we're all ready, then let's get going," I told them and swung the door open. Just like earlier, there still wasn't anyone on this floor. At first, this hadn't made me uneasy, but now, it was. There should have at least been somebody wandering around and looking for us at this point.

Had our absence really gone unnoticed for this long? _I doubt it. _Our group quickly moved out from the broom closet and back onto the route we were taking before the serum started to wear off on Shun. As we ran, Murucho suddenly came to a halt at my side. _Great. Now what? _

He was peering into an open door, and a slight grin had formed on his face. "Murucho? Why'd you stop?" I asked harshly. He then pushed the door open and pointed into the room. "This is why I stopped. Think we'll need any of this?"

We cautiously walked up to the room and found it filled with weapons; guns, blunt objects such as bats, and anything else that could be used to kill a zombie. We walked into the room, taking in the amount of weaponry that Layfair had accumulated.

"They must've taken them from the people they captured," Shun said from the other side of the room. I was about to ask him what made him say that, but when I turned around and saw him reaching for an all too familiar sword and whip-chain, I instantly knew.

And when I thought about it, Layfair wasn't the kind of person that would go out into a world that he destroyed to search for weapons. Just like everything else, he would wait for it to come to him. Seeing the two weapons that Shun had used back on Earth, I got a grisly reminder that it was happening all over again.

People were dying and coming back as flesh-eating monster, not caring who they chased after. I was sure that never in a million years did any of us expect that we would have to suffer through it all over again. I snapped out of my thoughts and told Murucho, "It might be a good idea if we take something with us. We have no idea how bad it is out there."

Shun spoke up, his voice dark and grim. "It's worse than it was back on Earth. Let's just leave it at that," he said will twirling his wrist, which, in turn, caused the sword to spin around. Once everyone had a weapon of some sort, we decided that it was time for us to keep moving.

Our fast-paced walk quickly turned into a full run as the exit door came into our view. We were about to get out of this awful place. It all felt so surreal that our time here was coming to an end for the time being; at least until we regrouped and came up with a plan to take Layfair down.

We were about ten feet from the door, when flashing red lights turned the hallway a dark red, and about twenty people wearing hazmat suits ran in front of the door, holding semi-automatic guns and blocking our path out. We all skidded to a halt, caught off guard by the sudden resistance.

There was then a rhythmic sound of footsteps, and Layfair stepped out from the hallway next to us and he stood before the armed men, his arms folded behind his back and a sly grin on his face. "Now, where do you think you all are going? Don't you know it's dangerous out there?" he asked, his expression never once changing.

Beside me, I saw Shun's eyes narrow and a growl escape from him. There was a direct hatred in his eyes pointed right at Layfair, and I didn't blame my friend for hating him. This man had been what took everything from us back on Earth, and he had also kidnapped Shun and tormented him back then.

Now, it was happening all over again, and Shun wanted his revenge. Heck, we all wanted it, but maybe not as much as my friend did. Shun raised the sword in his hands, which stirred a response in the armed men behind Layfair by making them lift up their guns.

But Layfair held out his arm and told them, "Now, there's no need for this kind of violence." Before I could even blink, Shun charged at Layfair, and swung the blade of his sword down through Layfair's arm. A geyser of blood came spewing out, turning the white hazmat suits of the armed men behind him, crimson red.

The arm fell down onto the ground, blood leaking out of the disconnected limb. We all stood there in somewhat of a shock, surprised that Shun had attacked Layfair without so much as a warning. But Layfair stood there, the same sly grin on his face. He didn't even act like his arm had just been severed.

Instead, he shook his head. "I'm surprised in you, 388. Attacking me like some kind of savage animal," he mused. Suddenly, threads of flesh started to snake out from where his arm had been severed, and a new arm grew and replaced the old one, not even showing a sign of the previous arm being cut off.

Shun's eyes widened in surprise, and my friend quickly took several steps away from Layfair and rejoined us. Layfair lifted up his new arm and flexed his fingers. "I see that my new serum works better than I could have ever hoped for," he mused. He then turned to look right at us, and his grin vanished, leaving his expression cold.

"You're going to have to try harder than that if you're going to kill me," he said harshly. Runo cautiously leaned over to me and asked in a whisper, "Are there any other escape routes, Dan?" I looked around, looking at the flashing, red strobe lights.

Layfair probably had guards posted at every possible exit. There was no way we were going to walk out of here through a door. It was clear that we were trapped in here unless one of us could come up with an alternate escape route, but we couldn't discuss where else we'd get out from while Layfair and his men were right in front of us.

I whispered over to the others, "Run." They looked over at me like I had gone crazy, but none of them protested, for we had no other plan.

We turned on our heels and shot back down the hall, and I half-expected to hear the zinging of bullets going past us, but not a single one of the semi-automatic guns were fired at us. We ducked away into the stairwell and ran down flights and flights of stairs until we hit the bottom floor, the floor where Quinn's lab was.

_Dan_

Quinn shot up from looking down into a microscope, and he stared at us with wide eyes, obviously not prepared to be dropped in on. His expression then softened a bit, and he smiled. "Oh, Jackson. Does Mister Layfair need something else from me?" he asked while walking to the other side of his lab.

"And who are you friends? More of Layfair's new assistants, perhaps?" Runo whispered into my ear, "Who is this guy, and what's he talking about?" I whispered back to her, "You guys just go along with it." Quinn poured himself a cup of, what I guessed was coffee, and returned back to the microscope.

He was about to look back down into the lens, but stopped and turned back to look at us, an eyebrow raised. "What's up with the weapons?" I followed his gaze towards the sword in Shun's hand that was dripping Layfair's blood onto the tiled floor.

"Uh," I said as I thought up a lie, but came up empty handed. Murucho quickly caught onto my struggle and told Quinn, "The lab was invaded by zombies. We were separated from the group and just ran down here to get away." I was suddenly grateful for the short blonde's genius, and vowed to never complain about it ever again.

Quinn gasped and placed his hands over his mouth in shock. "Oh, my. I hope Mister Layfair is safe," he said from under his hands. I scratched the back of my neck and told him, "I'm sure he doesn't have anything to worry about." I could just picture Layfair being ripped to shreds by a hoard, then regenerating his entire body.

How could you even kill that man, when he just healed himself in a matter of seconds? I cleared my throat and asked Quinn, "Yeah, and we also came down here hoping you knew of another way out of the lab." This was as good of a time to try and find a new escape route as any.

Quinn raised a brow at me and asked, "Why would you want to escape? I'm sure Layfair's men are going to take care of the zombies that broke in." I ran a hand through my hair and said nervously, "Uh, it's not that we doubt Layfair's strength, it's just that, um, we don't want to be in here in case they can't get rid of the zombies. Yeah, that."

Was that a good enough lie, or would Quinn see straight through it? The scientist leaned back in his chair and said, "Well, I do know of one escape route that would take you into the main part of the city, but there's really no reason to leave. Layfair will take care of-"

Quinn was cut off by Shun, who had run up beside him and placed the blade of his sword right on Quinn's throat. The scientist gulped, and I could see a fine line of blood, that wasn't Layfair's, starting to drip down to Quinn's collarbone.

"Just tell us where this exit is," Shun demanded harshly. "We're all rather desperate to get out of here." Quinn's were wide as he nodded and pointed over to the back of the lab.

"There's a grate over there on the floor. You take it off and there's a tunnel that will eventually lead you to the waste run-off pipes. Those should take you out of here," he said with a fear-filled voice.

Shun narrowed his eyes and removed the blade from Quinn's neck. Once he was freed, the scientist dropped down to his hands and knees and crawled underneath a table to hide. Shun walked over towards the back of the lab and used the sword to pry the metal grate off of the floor.

"Let's hurry up and get out of here," he said and dropped down into the tunnel. The others and I exchanged looks at each other, then jumped down into the hole as well.

* * *

_chapter titled based off the song The Great Escape by Boys Like Girls. _oh my god! i'm so happy! my audition went great yesterday and I made call backs, and if i do great there, then i'm going to Germany! -does super happy dance- i really hope i make it! read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	24. Boiling Point

_Shun_

All of this that was happening didn't even feel like it was real; it all felt like a really bad dream that I knew I wouldn't wake up from. I dropped down into the grate, landing in the tunnel below. I had taken a desperate measure by holding my blade to that man's throat, but that was just it; I was desperate.

I was desperate to get out of here, as far away as I could get. This place brought by the horrible memories of what happened back on Earth, and I didn't like it. That was one reason, but my other was that I wanted…No, I had to find Alice.

A million and one things could have happened to her and the others during my absence, none of which I wanted to see as a reality; it was bad enough while they were thoughts in my mind. While I had been locked away in this lab and experimented on, had any of them suffered the fate of being infected?

If they had, then they weren't as fortunate as the rest of us to have that serum on hand. Although, we did have several vials with us now, but that didn't mean much if we were unable to find them in order to administer the medicine. Behind me, the others followed my lead and jumped down into the tunnel with me.

It was dark, the only light coming from a grate or ventilation shaft here and there, which made it somewhat difficult to see anything in these tunnels. But I could easily distinguish the figures of my once-dead friends, that were now alive again thanks to the creation of one sick and twisted person; Layfair, the same person who had tormented me back on Earth in the name of creating an antidote.

I cringed at the memory as I recalled all of the pain I had endured for seemingly countless days. I had been starved there, and neglected of water as they observed how their antidote would work on me. Then, there was the pain that had come along with it, and all I really remembered about it was that there was blood, so much blood.

The images of how dead I looked after being injected with the antidote, ran throughout my mind, making me feel a renewed anger towards Layfair. It shocked me how heartless one person could be. And now, he had turned himself into a freak of nature, something that was not human.

I had severed his arm from his shoulder out of a blind fury, and it grew back as if it had never been cut off in the first place. After that, it didn't take me very long to realize that I needed to get away from him, and that conventional methods would be of no use in killing him.

_So, how do I do it then? How do I kill this guy? _I wanted it to be me who ended his life; Layfair had tormented me more than anyone else. There were times that I should have died, and because of him, I was forced to remain alive and suffer through my agony. I deserved my revenge.

Suddenly, my thoughts came back into focus, and I realized that Dan had been snapping his fingers in front of my face. "You okay, buddy? Snap out of it," he said, still snapping his fingers. Behind him, I saw the others standing and looking at me.

I then realized they all wore the same concerned facial expression. I hadn't meant to make them worry or afraid, but my emotions had gotten the better of me back in the lab. So much was going on, and I wasn't prepared in any way to handle this.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Let's just hurry up and get out of this place," I told them and began to walk through the tunnels, the others following closely behind me. None of us knew where the exit was in this place; all we knew was what that scientist had told us, and that was that these tunnels led to the waste runoff.

He never gave us any directions. Then again, I hadn't really given him much time to tell us which way to go before I had held my sword's blade up to his throat. The floor of the tunnels started to grow damper with each corner we turned, and soon, we were walking in about inch deep water.

A pungent odor also started to grow stronger the further in we went; the smell was enough to make us pull our shirt collars up over our noses to try and reduce the aroma. Suddenly, we came face to face with a large, circular opening in the side of the tunnel.

To the side of it screwed into the concrete tunnel wall, was a sign that read _Waste Line_. The smell was at its strongest point right here, and now our shirts weren't enough to hold back the smell. Murucho said through his shirt, "I guess this was the waste runoff that the scientist was talking about."

Julie groaned and murmured, "It stinks in there. Do we have to go in?" I readied my sword, just in case we ran into any trouble inside the pipeline, and told Julie, "I'm afraid so. It's either this or let those creeps get their hands on us again." She groaned and gave me a nod of understanding.

Cautiously, we stepped through the circular opening and into the tunnel. Water dripped down from the ceiling and the ground was about three inches deep with water. I could hear the ripples of the water as we trudged through it, disturbing its glass-like surface.

A low rumbled began to shake throughout the tunnel, causing us to halt and look around, curious as to what was happening. Back towards were we entered the pipeline at, the large, circular open began to close, and the light was cut off, turning the tunnel pitch black.

Julie shouted, "What's going on!" There was then a clicking sound from the recently closed door, and the only thing I could think it could be doing, was sealing shut. With that thought, everything clicked inside of my head. "I think they're about to flush the pipes out," I blurted out.

This stirred a panic from the others. "Flush the pipes? What should we do? We're trapped in here now though!" Julie said in her panic-stricken state. Before any of us could open our mouths to try and calm her, a breeze started to blow against us, followed by a low rumble like thunder.

The breeze then kicked up, and I could pick up on the distinct sound of rushing water. And before any of us could react, we felt a wave of water crash into us from the blackness, sending us careening throughout the pipelines.

_Layfair_

"I want them found, and now!" I snapped at my assistants. Finding my patients hadn't been urgent, but that was an hour ago. Now, I felt like this game of hide and seek had grown much too old for my tastes. It wasn't so much the others that I was concerned with; it was 388 that I wanted back.

Despite him obviously being injected with the serum and cured, he could still have been of some value to me. Perhaps there were other cells in his body that the previous antidote had merged with. The possibilities could be endless.

My lead assistant, Henry, came running up to me from the staircase. "Sir! Quinn knows where the runaways went!" he informed be between gasps of air. I quickly darted for the staircase, my lab coat fluttering behind me enough to almost double as a cape.

I swung open the door to the staircase and stomped down to Quinn's lab. When I arrived at the last floor, he was sitting back in a chair and examining a paper on a clipboard. He saw me and jumped to his feet. "Mister Layfair! Welcome!" he said quickly while straightening up some of the papers on the table.

Furious, I strode over to the opposite side of his table and slung the papers off, causing the sheets to fly up into the air and fall to the floor like leaves. This startled Quinn, and the scientist fell back into his chair, eyes wide with shock. "S-sir? Is th-there a problem?"

I narrowed my eyes and asked harshly, "Where did they go? Tell me, Quinn!" He flinched as if my words had struck him. "Where who went, sir? You mean Jackson and the new recruits? They left to get out of here and away from the zombies that broke into the lab….Guess they didn't believe you could handle them by yourself, huh, sir?"

Quinn began to laugh nervously. I slammed my hand down on the table, knocking over an empty beaker and causing it to shatter. "Zombies that broke into the lab? There are no zombies, you fool! They tricked you! That was 388 and his friends, idiot!" I shouted.

Quinn sunk deeper into his chair, and held his hands up in defense. "I'm sorry, sir! They tricked me!" he told me, nearly on the verge of tears. I gritted my teeth and picked up the clipboard he had been holding, and slung it across the room. "Just tell me where the hell they went!" I growled.

Quinn pointed a shaking finger over towards the back of the room and told me under his breath, "They went into the tunnels. I told them that the waste runoff line will take them out of here. I'm sorry, sir, I truly am. I had no idea who they were." I took in a deep breath and began to recompose myself.

I then turned to Henry, who had been standing behind me and observing how I went off on Quinn. "Flush the lines," I ordered him calmly. Quinn jumped out of his seat and said, "You want to flush the lines! That could kill them! Why not just send somebody down there to retrieve them?"

I cut a glare towards the scientist, causing him to back down. "They have the new serum in them. They may sustain some injuries, but those will heal quickly….Those five will not die, and if they want out so badly, then who am I to delay their escape?"

Quinn narrowed his eyes at me and said coldly, "You've gone mad, Mister Layfair. No longer are you someone worthy of my respect. I understand why those kids wanted to get out of here so-" Quinn was unable to finish his sentence when I pulled out the same pistol I had shot my other assistant with, and planted a bullet into his skull.

"Traitor," I hissed. "You won't live to see my genius vision come to life." Henry still stood in his place, calm and collected when he asked me, "Do you still want the pipes flushed?" I gave him one nod and tucked my pistol away, cutting one last look at the dead body of Quinn.

I sighed and said, "You know, you did some good work and helped me achieve my serum, but you've outlived your purpose as well. I can easily replicate the serum now without your help, Quinn." I pulled out the pistol again, and shot the dead body again, this time in the chest.

Of course, it didn't do anything to the already dead corpse other than cause it to flinch from the force of the bullet. Now, I tucked my gun away for good this time and walked back up the stairs to the top floor. At one point, I walked by the maintenance room, and saw the red light flashing above it to let us all now that the pipelines were being purged.

* * *

a bit short for what i've been putting out lately, but what i was going to add in needs to be saved for the next chapter. so, read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	25. Suicide Pact

_Shun_

The rushing water finally relented and forced us out through the runoff. In a waterfall of wastage, the five of us were spit out into a cesspool of waste runoff from the lab. It was thick and almost black with the same pungent aroma that we had encountered from the tunnels. I kicked my feet and broke through the surface of the water, taking in a deep gasp for fresh air.

Around me, the others did the same. It didn't take us long to start to swim towards land. Weak, beaten and battered, I crawled up onto the water's edge and fell over onto my side. The ground was gritty and blackish-gray from the polluted runoff, and I could feel the sand-like granules sticking to my soaked body just like sand would. But I didn't care. We were out of that lab, and that was about the only thing important to me at the moment.

I coughed up some of the water that had tried to flood my lungs, and cringed at the foul taste it left behind. The others were scattered along the bank and doing the same as me. I then found it in me to roll over onto my back, and I stared up at the sky.

It was a light, pale blue with hardly a cloud in sight, and I never thought I'd be happier to see the atmosphere again, for now it meant that we really were out of that lab. Although, the world we had walked back into wasn't much better than the one we just left.

I felt my arms stinging, and when I looked down, I saw that some of the black sand had gotten into the cuts and gashes in my arm that I had obtained while being slammed into the tunnel walls by the rushing water. I sat there for a moment, staring at my wounds, and started to notice the skin healing up; it was the work of the serum that all of us had in our bodies now.

There wasn't even a single scar or scratch left behind. I remembered how the old antidote did the same thing, but only much slower, and not as thorough. This serum was obviously much more effective than anything that Layfair may have produced thus far.

Over where the others were, I heard Julie groan. "God, I feel disgusting," she said while ringing the waste water out of her shirt. I forced myself to sit up, then got up to my feet. My soaked clothes clung to my body, but it didn't bother me; I knew they would dry in a bit.

I then walked over and joined the others. Dan shook a hand through his hair to knock some of the excess water out. "I don't think I'm going on that ride again anytime soon," he muttered to himself. Murucho had been wiping his glasses dry, and now that he had them back on, he stared at the pipe that had just thrown us out into this cesspool. He said flatly, "That should have killed us."

I crossed my arms over my chest and added onto his statement, "It's cause of the serum. It was able to heal our injuries as we obtained them throughout the tunnel." Murucho nodded and turned away from the pipeline.

It took me a moment, but I soon realized that we had lost our weapons in the rushing water of the tunnels; I was the only one who still had theirs thanks to the fact that I had tied my sword and whip-chain to one of my belt loops while we were going through the pipelines.

We would have to find something else to defend ourselves with later, but for now, we had to start moving. Suddenly, Julie let out a high-pitched shriek, and I saw why. There were several zombies lumbering along the shoreline of the cesspool and heading right towards us.

I quickly untied my sword from my hip and held it at the ready, but the zombies just walked right past us. A rush of familiarity hit me. They didn't pay us any mind, almost like we weren't even there. The others had taken refuge behind me since they had nothing to fight with, and they watched as the living corpses shuffled along the black-sand shoreline.

"W-why didn't they attack us?" Runo asked while slowly stepped out from behind me. I lowered down the sword and said flatly, "We're still infected." The four of them stared at me with confusion filled eyes. Dan stepped forward and pointed to the zombies that had passed by us, which were now a good ways down the cesspool's bank, and said, "Infected? If we were still infected then we would turn into one of those things."

A light breeze picked up, sending loose granules of black sand skidding around along the bank, making it appear as if they were racing the wind.

I told my friends calmly, "According to what I've been told about Layfair's serum, it's designed to heal damage done by the virus, not necessarily get rid of it. Also, they took the cells from me, which had been holding the virus off and used them in the serum. All this thing is doing, is holding the virus at bay, which means we're still infected. Although, I highly doubt we're ever going to turn, so there's no need to worry about that."

Murucho pushed his glasses up higher on the bridge of his nose and said, "I see what Shun means. This serum really isn't exactly a cure. It's just fighting against the virus and overpowering it so it can't take full effect, is that what you mean, Shun?"

I nodded to answer his question. Runo held up her hand to signal us to stop for a moment and began to shake her head. "Okay, I get what you're saying about the serum, but what does us being infected or whatever have to do with the fact that those zombies didn't even pay any attention to us?"

Murucho shrugged his shoulders and told her, "I'm not sure." I had to remind myself that they had been locked away in that lab, and didn't know about how the zombies wouldn't attack a person who was already infected.

I spoke up and said, "It's like they can smell somebody who is infected with the virus. So, to them we might as well be zombies ourselves. I know this because I went several days throughout Vestal while infected, and not a single one paid me any mind. I could walk through hoards of them and never once get so much as glanced at."

They all glanced at each other, but I could see that they understood the explanation I just gave to them. Julie held the sides of her arms in a paranoid manner and said, "Well, I don't care if they don't want to eat us cause we're 'infected,' I still want something to defend myself with."

The others followed her statement with nods of agreement. I told them, "Alright, we'll go and find something to fight with and get a move on after that. Then we'll discuss where to go after that." We started to walk down along the bank, but halted when we heard the distinct sound of gunfire.

_Alice_

I took the crowbar in my hands and swung it into the skull of a zombie. While Ace and I had been searching for somewhere safe to stay the night, a hoard had stumbled upon us, and they were now in hot pursuit of us. If we still had all of our group instead of just Ace and I, we might have stayed and fought the flesh-eaters off.

But there was just us two, and we were greatly outnumbered. Perhaps we could have held them off for a moment, but the second they started to surround us, it would be game over. Ace halted, swung the blade of his hatchet to take out two zombies, and continued to run when we caught back up with me.

"We have to get to higher ground! These things will just keep on chasing us until we drop dead from exhaustion!" Ace shouted at me. I nodded and instantly began to search for anywhere that we could us as a means to get away from the hoard that was after us.

Up ahead, my eyes locked onto a pile of grounded flying cars. There were just enough that if Ace and I were at the top, we would be right out of the zombies' grasp. "There!" I shouted to Ace while pointing at the stack of vehicles. He nodded and both of us bolted for the mini mountain of scrap metal.

Our hands slammed into the flightless cars and began to pull us up to the top. The zombies reached us the moment we climbed to the top car. Their hands were extended upwards in an attempt to grab us, and they growled with anger at not being able to reach their meal.

Ace and I were both panting from exhaustion as we sat on the top of the pile of cars to regain our breath. A zombie that was a bit taller than the rest was able to slam his hand down next to my foot. I jumped back in surprise while also letting out a scream.

Ace acted quickly and grabbed the hatchet, slamming the blade down onto the zombie's hand and severing the dead appendage from its owner's limb. The zombie stumbled back, but I knew it could feel no pain. Ace then began to swing the hatchet down at the zombies that were surrounding us, and slicing into their skulls.

Suddenly, the hatchet caught in one of the zombies and it slipped from Ace's grip, lost in a sea of death. Ace cursed underneath his breath, and was about to reach for my crowbar. And just like a stroke of bad luck, his hand accidentally bumped in, causing it to slide off of the roof of the car and join his hatchet down below.

Ace and I sat there for a moment, utterly dumbstruck. We both were trapped up here, the only weapon we had now was a hand pistol. Ace must have remembered we had it, cause he pulled it out and shot three rounds into the sea of zombies, dropping one for each bullet. He was about to shoot again, but I stopped him.

"Ace, how many rounds do we have left?" I asked him. He opened the chamber and looked inside. "Two. Why?" I looked him straight in the eyes, and he instantly knew what I was thinking. "Who should go first?" he asked me. I bit down on my lower lip and said, "I will."

I then reached over Ace and took the pistol from his hand. Loading one of the two rounds into the chamber, I brought the barrel of the gun up to the side of my head and let out a shaky breath. It was either this, sit up here and die slowly, or allow those monsters below to rip us to pieces.

Quite frankly, ending it quick sounded like the best option of any of them. Besides, what else did I have to live for? The world was overrun by zombies once again, and Shun and the last of my friends were gone forever now.

This was no world that I wanted to live in any longer. Ace turned and looked away, and I could tell he was bracing himself to hear the sound of the pistol firing. I decided I was ready, and was just about to pull the trigger when I heard somebody shout my name.

_Shun_

We instantly headed towards the location of where the gunfire was to see who it was. I was clinging onto the slim chance that it was Alice, and maybe even the rest of the Vestals if I was lucky.

On the way towards the source of the gunfire, the others had found things that would be their weapons; Dan had picked up a shovel from somebody's garden we passed by, Murucho had a metal pipe that had fallen off what I assumed had been a car, Runo found a baseball bat that had been left out in the old park from when the outbreak started, and Julie had taken the metal handle off of a broom.

They weren't much, but since we all ran no risk of being bitten, they were as good as anything. There was another consecutive firing from a gun, and our group quickly chased down the whereabouts now that the source was renewed in our minds. When we found where the gunfire was coming from, I froze in my tracks.

It was Ace and Alice. The two of them were trapped on the top of a pile of cars with a hoard pinning them up there, and Alice held a pistol to her head, obviously about to end her life right then and there. Before she had the chance to pull the trigger, I shouted her name. "Alice!"

Her eyes shot open and they scanned the area for a moment before locking onto me. They only widened from there, and I knew she must have thought she was seeing a ghost. The last that she had seen of me, I was nearly dead due to the virus. Ace, who was still beside her, had almost the exact same facial expression on him.

Alice lowered the gun down and away from her head, but her eyes told me that she was still stunned by the sight of me and the others. The zombies though, didn't care that we were there; they were still trying to reach Alice and Ace.

I quickly snapped at the others, "We have to get them out of there! Remember, the zombies won't attack us, so don't be scared of them." The others gave me a nod, and we ran into the hoard, weapons swinging and cutting into the zombies that threatened our friends' lives.

_Alice_

I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It was Shun. He was alive. At that time, I didn't even realize who all was with him; all I knew was the Shun was there. When I came back somewhat to my senses, I realized who was with him, which only added to my shock.

It was Dan, Runo, Murucho, and Julie. Was I dreaming this, a result of possibly passing out from shock? Or had I pulled the trigger and now I was dead and seeing my deceased friends? The five of them dove right into the hoard, attacking zombies back and forth; none of the living dead even acted like they were there.

My eyes found Shun. His eyes were narrowed, and his teeth gritted as he fought his way through the hoard and towards us. I hadn't seen this side of Shun since we were back on Earth during the first outbreak. Without realizing it, the last zombie head of the hoard was severed from its shoulders, and Ace and I were no longer in danger.

The mint-haired boy next to me slid off of the pile of cars and scooped up the hatchet he had dropped, then turned it on Shun and the others. He obviously did not trust what his eyes were showing him, and I didn't blame him. All of these people were supposed to be dead, gone and turned into monsters.

Shun held his hands up and told Ace, "Relax. It's us." I jumped down from the mountain of cars, and bolted towards Shun, wrapping my arms tightly around him. I didn't ask questions. I didn't wonder how they were all alive. All I knew was that luck was on my side, and they were all here with me now.

* * *

well, nothing new to report. vote on the poll on my profile if you have not done so. i think when it reaches ten unique voters i will close it down. so, read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	26. For My Sake

_Shun_

I was unprepared for Alice's sudden hug, but when it finally sank in, I returned the embrace. The reality of everything started to sink in at long last. A minute or second longer, and we would have been too late. Alice would have ended her life if I hadn't shouted her name when I did.

The two of us stood there for a moment, dead corpses littering the ground. Their dark blood started to pool around our feet and spread further out, trapping us in a blackened sea. Alice brought a trembling hand up and placed it on the side of my face.

"How? How are you still here? How are _all _of you still here?" she asked, her voice sounding on the edge of tears. I brought my hand up and slid it over hers, then slowly lowered her trembling hand down to her side. I told her gently, "It's a long story, but we have plenty of time to fill you in later."

She nodded, but her eyes felt absent to me; she was most likely in shock from seeing all of us alive. Ace, who had been standing to the side, still held his hatchet in his hands and at the ready to strike at us. I couldn't blame him for his behavior; if the circumstances had been different when I discovered that the others were alive, my reaction may have been the same.

But I had been weakened, and forced to sit there and listen to the insanity that had been playing out in the underground lab. Behind me, Murucho spoke up and said, "We should find somewhere to lay low and elaborate what's going on to Ace and Alice."

Ace narrowed his eyes at the short blonde and asked harshly, "And where do you suggest we go? Alice and I have been hunting for somewhere safe for what seems like days, and we've come up empty handed." Alice cast her eyes down and gave a slight nod. I could see the fatigue in them, along with all of the suffering the two of them had endured since my departure.

I hated myself for not being able to be there and help keep her safe. Maybe things would be a bit different. Dan's eyes lit up as an idea came to mind. "I think I know somewhere that might be safe." I raised an eyebrow at him and asked, "Where?"

He then pointed back down the way we just came from and told us, "That cesspool back there. It's kind of hidden away, and if any zombies try and sneak up on us, then we'll see them out in the distance." Murucho scratched the back of his neck and asked sheepishly, "Do you really think it's a good idea to go back so close to the lab?"

It was true. The cesspool was nothing more that the place where all of the wastage was dumped; the pipelines led right back up into the lab that we had just escaped. Dan shrugged his shoulders and said, "Well, it's the best I can come up with. Anyone else got something better?"

Nobody put forth another option. In all actuality, the Dan, Julie, Runo, Murucho, and I ran no risk of being attacked. It was Ace and Alice that we had to keep an eye on, for they were the ones at risk. But there was also the fact that we had the serums with us.

If either of them were bitten, then we could administer the serum to them and save their lives, if it came down to that. With that thought, the location of the serums raised a red flag for me. Dan had been the one holding them while we were in the tunnels, but now, nobody had them.

"The serums….We must have lost them when the lines were flushed out," I said grimly. The stakes had just risen a bit for the two friends that we had just been reunited with. Now, if they were bitten, time was of the essence to get our hands on a new batch of serum.

Since I had mentioned the misplacement of the life-saving liquid, Dan and the others also began to realize that they were no longer with us. Alice and Ace only stood there, obviously confused as to what we were talking about. I told them, "We'll fill you guys in later. Now, we just have to keep moving."

They nodded and followed us back to the cesspool that we had just left behind. By the time we returned, it was creeping up on nighttime, and things were getting difficult to see. Dan and I left the group to go and search for firewood so we would have light and warmth.

While searching the black sand banks, Dan decided to make some smalltalk and asked, "You must be pretty happy to have found Alice, huh, Shun?" I picked up a piece of driftwood and told him grimly, "Yeah, but I would have been a bit happier if when we found them, the rest of the Vestals had been there as well."

The brunette sighed. I wasn't sure if Keith, Baron, and Mira had fallen victim to a hoard, or if they had just gotten separated from Ace and Alice. _I'll have to ask them later tonight. _After both of our arms were filled with firewood, Dan and I returned back to the group.

They were setting around on the damp sand, huddled together for what little warmth the other could provide. Or maybe they were huddled up together for comfort in knowing that part of our group had been reunited. Murucho and Ace were the ones who got the fire started.

The two of them sat there for several moments, debating on which method would be best for them to use in order to get a strong flame. Eventually, the firewood was lit and an orange flame was lapping upwards towards the sky. The small fire gave off enough light for us to see if anything was coming towards us, but it wasn't too much to give our location away.

Ace scooted closer to the fire, warming his hands, and said, "Okay, now spill it. How the hell are all of you still alive? I thought Dan and you three all died back on Earth…..And, Shun…..We were all certain you had died this time." His gray eyes were narrowed at us, each orb holding a suspicion that trumped everything else that they may have held at one point.

Dan's eyes shifted from Ace, to Murucho. He then said, "Maybe Murucho is the best choice for explaining everything. Go on, buddy." The short blonde glanced up at Dan, then let out a sigh and pushed his glasses up. "Alright." He then began to tell our story from as far back as he could remember, and allowed others to jump in and add in things he may have missed.

He explained how all of them came to be in that lab, and how Layfair brought them back through numerous experiments. He then looked to me and said, "Shun, I think you should tell them your story." I cringed at the memory of all that I had been through the past couple of days.

They were horrible things, much of it I didn't want to remember, but I knew it would be imprinted into my mind for as long as I lived. Alice and Ace were staring at me, waiting to know how I had survived the inevitable.

"The same people that did the experiments on Dan and the others, found me after I had left our last hideout. They took me to that lab and did some research, only to find that I had something they needed to complete their latest project. After that, they infected me with the virus countless times, leaving me on the verge of death, but all the while keeping me barely alive and to the point of where I wouldn't turn. It was only when they finally got what they needed from me, did Dan show up and we began plotting our escape."

Alice reached over and placed her hand on top of mine. I flinched for a moment, still zoned out by reliving my memories, but quickly relaxed when I came back to my senses. "We're just happy that you're all back safe and sound. Dan…..Runo….Julie….Murucho…..I've missed you guys so much," she said with a sad smile and a glint of a tear in her eye.

Runo returned the saddened smile and told her, "Same here, Alice." Hours passed while everyone caught up and rejoiced in the fact that our original group was whole again. Although, Ace stayed out of most of the conversations and kept to himself. He had seemed very apprehensive now that we were all reunited.

At first, I thought it was because he didn't truly believe that we were all still alive. But now, I sensed something deeper that was troubling him. The mint-haired boy laid down on his side in the black sand and closed his eyes to try and sleep. Shortly after that, the others followed suit.

Now, only Alice and I were left awake. She was staring intently at the flames of our dying fire, and I could see her brown eyes reflecting what she saw. But it was what was far beyond the reflection that really caught my attention. As if living through this apocalypse once wasn't enough, she had to go through it again, and it had taken its toll on her.

It had hardened her, possibly even made her cold like it had done me all those years ago. And during that time, I had wished nothing more than for her to never succumb to that fate of allowing this kind of reality to change her as it had done to me.

This kind of life, was not one that anyone deserved to live. It was one of pain and suffering on levels that no sane human should have had to deal with. And yet, we had gone through it twice. _We have to look on the bright side though. We may have gone through this on more than one occasion, but we have also survived it each time._

Alice let out a yawn and turned her sleepy eyes on me. She then smiled, but it wasn't as happy and lively as I remembered it being. Maybe she had never changed after we left Earth because she hadn't been forced to kill as many zombies as the rest of us had.

Maybe that was the only thing that had been holding her together. But now, in a situation where she had no choice, she had turned into the same kind of monster that killing living corpses had transformed the rest of us into. I told her reassuringly, "This will all be over with soon enough. After that, things will start returning back to normal. I promise."

Alice moved over some to get closer to me, then placed her head on my shoulder. Her curly orange hair that had once been so clean and groomed, was now a tangled and blood-matted mess from not being taken care of since the zombies invaded the bunker.

She remained silent, and I tried to strike up another conversation. "If you don't mind me asking, what about the others? You know, Keith and the rest of the Vestals? What happened to them?" Her expression grew grim with the mentioning of them. What all had transpired during my absence?

Alice sighed and was about to tell me, when Ace suddenly broke into the conversation. "They're all dead. Baron went first, then Keith, and…Then Mira," he said flatly, but nearly choked up when he said Mira's name. Alice nodded sadly and added, "Yeah. What Ace said….."

They were all that had been left before the others and I showed up and saved them from a certain death. Although, their eyes somewhat suggested to me that perhaps they would have liked it if they had died back there on the top of that pile of cars.

Ace lowered his eyes and laid back down on the ground, never saying another word for the rest of the night. I sighed and told Alice, "The guy responsible for all of this, Layfair, he has some twisted ambitions for his virus and serum. We're going to try and stop him in order to get things back to how they were."

I was going to say more, but Alice held up her hand to signal me to stop talking. She then told me, "Can we just not say anything? I want to enjoy this while I can, and before something else happens and comes along to rip it away from me again…."

Her voice trailed off, and it looked like she might have been on the verge of crying, but forced her tears back. Was that how she viewed the world now? As a moment of peace before tragedy struck again? I cast my eyes down and said quietly, "Alright. We'll enjoy this moment now."

She gave me a slight nod and buried her face into the crook of my neck. At that moment, I realized that I had to take out Layfair, not only for my sake, but to also get the old Alice back.

* * *

_chapter title based off the song For My Sake by Shinedown. _some emotional drama for your Friday, eh? there will be **no upload tomorrow**, for i have my second audition that will determine if i make this band. so, finger crossed and wish me luck! also **check out my poll if you have not**! read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	27. Burdens And Goals

_Shun_

A charred log from the night's campfire fell into the embers below, causing a flurry of bright red coal to fly up into the air. The sound of the log falling woke me, and I forced my tired eyes open. Alice was sound asleep next to me, undisturbed by the fire's sound. When I woke up a bit more, I realized that it had been Ace that caused the log to fall.

He held a small tree branch in his hand, and was poking around in the ashes of the fire. I looked around and saw that everyone else was still asleep, making Ace and I the only ones awake. The sun hadn't quite risen above the city, but it would take its reign in the sky soon enough, shining light onto this apocalyptic world that had been created in a matter of weeks.

"What are you doing?" I asked, my voice low so it wouldn't wake Alice or any of the others. Ace glanced away from the remainder of the fire and up at me. "Passing the time," he told me flatly. His eyebrows then furrowed as he looked back at the fire, and he tossed the tree branch into the tiny blaze.

The fire began to consume the branch, and it grew a bit brighter. Ace then turned his gray eyes back onto me, and I could see the seriousness within them. "That serum you were talking about earlier…It can bring anything back?" he asked, adverting his gaze from me as he asked the last part. I tilted my head to the side, somewhat confused as to what Ace was trying to get at, but nonetheless, I answered his question.

"Yeah. It brought Murucho back, and when he….Um….Met his fate, there wasn't that much of him left." Beside me, Alice stirred a bit, and I thought for a moment that she was about to wake up, but she didn't. Ace placed his hands into the sand behind him, using them to prop himself up as he sat upright.

He remained silent for a moment, then let out a sigh. "You think it could bring Mira and the others back?" he asked me, his voice wavering a bit. I had never seen Ace like this, and it was certainly new to me. He was actually showing some kind of emotion other than anger or frustration.

"If they can be found, then of course," I told him. It was true. If we could just find Mira, Keith, and Baron, then the serum should have been able to bring them back and return them into who they once used to be. Ace nodded and said quietly, "Good."

I brought my hand up and shook some of the blank sand from my hair. The mint-haired boy then sighed and cast his eyes upwards at the lightening sky. "Ace, if you don't mind me asking…How did the others die?" I asked, fully understanding if he didn't want to tell me.

I was just curious as to what went on while I had been locked away in the lab. Ace lowered his eyes down, and his bangs hid his eyes away.

"Baron died shortly after you left. Alice was distraught by your sudden disappearance and ran from the hideout to find you. When she did, she ran into a hoard that nearly killed her. It probably would have if we hadn't worked when we did. But while that was going on, Keith and Baron were up on a roof taking out zombies from above, and there ended up being a couple of those things up there, and they got a hold of Baron. That's pretty much it concerning Baron."

I felt a hollow feeling in my stomach. Because I left, Alice had nearly died, and Baron suffered a fate much worse than death. But I couldn't have helped why I left, for at the time I was well beyond stable, and was hallucinating; I didn't know what was real and what wasn't.

It was after that that Layfair's people found me and took me away. None of that could have been helped, and there was nothing that could have been done to prevent Baron's death. "And the others?" I asked. Ace acted like he almost forgot to tell me their story, and maybe he had; reliving the death of your friends wasn't an easy thing to do, especially when the wounds were still so fresh.

"Oh, yeah. Keith, he died a couple of nights ago. We were all hiding out underneath a bridge for the night, and in the morning, we found that a hoard had moved in on us. One of those things ended up biting Keith, and he stayed behind to fight them off. And then, there's Mira….."

I could see the pain in his eyes as he thought about her story. He then took in a shaky breath and exhaled it as he composed himself. "She was with us when we left Keith behind, but it was shortly after that when Alice and I saw that she was gone. We both assumed she had gone back to help her brother, and I tried to go back there. I tried, but Alice had to be my voice of reason and made me see that she had most likely perished as well."

A tear rolled out from Ace's gray eyes, but he quickly blinked it away. "I want revenge for what these people have caused," he said sternly and with eyes narrowed at me. "The thought of getting payback on them was impossible at first, but now that we're here and know where they're at, it can be done. I know it can," Ace told me with seriousness.

He then added, "Shun, I know you want revenge on them too. They've caused you and Alice more pain that any of us, but I'm sure my want for payback is just as strong as your's. Promise me that these sick and twisted bastards will suffer." Ace then held out his hand for me to shake in order to seal the deal.

I stared at it for a moment, then shook his hand. "I assure you, they will pay for all that they've done," I told him sternly. Ace nodded; he knew that we would achieve this. The only problem was, how did we kill Layfair? I had severed his arm completely from his body, something that should have caused him to drop dead from blood-loss and placed him in a world of unbelievable pain.

And yet, he grew his arm back, all while standing there with that smug grin on his face. _There's no point in thinking about it too much now. We'll cross that bridge when we get there, _I thought to myself. Layfair was my target, and my target alone. Ace may have wanted revenge on him as badly as I did, but it was a given that it would be _me _to end that psychopath's life.

I stood up, blank granules of sand falling from my clothes, and picked up my two weapons. Ace quietly asked, "Where are you going?" I hooked the two weapons onto my belt loops and told him, "I'm going to get some more training in to prepare for when we go back into the lab. You might want to do the same, because you have no idea what it's really like in there."

I turned on my heel and walked a bit down the cesspool's bank until I came upon a dead tree. It was black as night, but still sturdy enough to keep its roots planted in the sand. Seeing that this was as good as any place to work on building myself up again, I drew my sword and got to work.

_Alice_

Sunlight hitting me in my eyes caused me to wake. I sat up, sand falling from my hair and clothes. The fire that had been built last night, was nothing more than a flicker of a flame now. When I had fallen asleep, Shun had been beside me. Now, I wasn't sure where he had gone.

A sickening feeling started to form in my stomach as I feared that I may have lost him again. Ace, who was sitting on the other side of the fire across from me, apparently sensed my distress. He told me, "Shun's over there." I followed the direction his eyes were looking in, and sure enough, I found Shun.

A flood of relief washed over me now that my fears had been quelled. Shun was standing before a dead tree, swinging and cutting the blade of his sword into the trunk. "What's he doing?" I asked, looking to Ace for an answer since he was the only one awake out of the rest of our group.

"He told me he was training for when we went back into the lab," he said calmly. I understood why Shun was doing this. After we arrived on Vestal, Shun had slacked off on his training, leaving him about as strong as any average person.

Now that the virus had followed us and turned our world upside down again, he realized how weak he was. Plus, there was also the fact that he was still feeling the effects of the virus and all of the experiments that were performed on him.

I stood up from my spot in the sand, and walked over towards Shun. He apparently didn't see me as I approached him. Either that, or he wasn't paying any mind as he focused on the task at hand. The silver blade of the sword sliced itself into the tree trunk, taking away a triangular chunk of the wood with it.

There were many cuts and slices in the tree, which told me that Shun had been here for some time now. Shun dug the blade into the trunk again, burying it deep within the dead tree. He left it there, eyes narrowed at the theoretical enemy he had made of the tree.

Shun was panting heavily, obviously tired and worn out from all the strain that he was no longer used to. I told him, "Maybe you should take it easy." Shun glanced over at me, as if just realizing I was there. He then shook his head and told me, "No. I'm fine. I need to be pushing myself like this."

He gave me a slight grin in order to reassure me that everything was okay, but I still wasn't so sure. "Well, it still wouldn't hurt you to rest for a bit," I told him flatly.

Shun pulled the embedded sword out from the tree trunk and told me, "I'm doing this to make myself strong enough to keep you and the others safe from what's in that lab, and out here…I'm not going to lose anyone else. Not to those people, or to the things they've created."

He narrowed his eyes and went back to slicing into the dead tree. I could see the determination in his eyes, and I knew what that meant all too well; he wasn't going to stop until he reached his goal. That was just how Shun was. I sighed and told him, "Alright, I understand. Just don't push yourself too much, okay?"

He stopped for a moment and looked at me, a slight grin on his lips. "I won't," he told me. This time, I did believe him, and I walked back over to the others without any doubt in him. Shun wasn't just doing this for himself, but for us as well.

The losses that we had faced thus far were one too many, and Shun was going to put an end to that. He was going to make sure that nobody else died, and I had a feeling that he would achieve this seemingly unreachable goal.

* * *

well, i didnt make the Lions Band, but i'm not upset. i have next year to try again, but overall i'm proud of myself for just making call-backs and getting the opportunity to try-out. besides, i probably would have missed being unable to write for no telling how long, so it's a win win. :) read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	28. Killer Instincts

_Shun_

I stepped back from the tree I had been cutting away at, and stared at the damage that had been done. Gashes and chunks were taken out of the trunk, and the dead bark was scattered about on the black sand, blending in and losing any recognition of where the sand began and the bark ended.

I lowered the blade of my sword to my side, tired and exhausted from the rigorous training I had put myself through. But it was needed if I was to keep the others safe. I knew this wasn't enough to put me in the same state I was in back on Earth, but it had allowed me to polish up my fighting forms, along with my stamina; both things that would be needed for when we went up against Layfair.

I had still yet to figure out how we would take him down. Conventional methods wouldn't kill him, so what else was there that could be done to him? Layfair was a monster, but the only difference was that a monster could be killed. Maybe not easily, but it would fall like anything else.

I glanced over my shoulder at the lab that the others and I had just escaped from. Smoke stacks that I hadn't noticed before, were sending smoke up into the atmosphere, and I had a feeling I knew what they were making in there. They were mass producing Layfair's serum and preparing it for the next stage of his plan.

I narrowed my eyes at the lab, my anger building up inside. I wanted to get my hands on him as soon as humanly possible so I could make him pay for all of his atrocities. "Hey!" I tore my gaze from the lab and looked down the cesspool's bank to see Dan waving his hands in the air to get my attention.

He then realized he had my attention, then motioned for me to return to the group. I walked down the black, sandy bank and joined them as he had asked. Dan stood up, black sand falling from his clothes, and said, "Murucho and Ace have come up with an attack plan for when we go back into the lab.

They want to go over it with everyone." I nodded and looked down to see that they had drawn out the plan in the black sand with a stick. Murucho, being that he almost had a nearly photographic memory, had copied down much of the lab's layout into the sand. Lines were drawn down the hallways of the lab, signaling which routes we would take.

And in the center, there was an 'X'. "Let me guess, that's where Layfair is, right?" I asked, using the tip of my sword to point at the X. Murucho nodded, then took the stick that they had drawn the map with, and began pointing to certain sections and spots.

"Now, we just have to determine which teams will go where during our attack. Kind of like divisions in a battle. We have to go into this as strategically as possible," he said sternly. Murucho had seen firsthand what Layfair was capable of doing, and I fully agreed with his idea of attacking the lab like this.

But I did worry whether or not it would work. Layfair could easily overpower us if he caught onto what we were doing, and if he did, then it was game over. Murucho proceeded to go over his and Ace's plan, all while assigning teams and jobs that had to be done.

Dan and Murucho were one team, and they had taken on the task of keeping Layfair's army distracted, while the team of Julie and Runo slipped by the chaos and found the electrical room, shutting down the power to the lab. And all while this was going on, Ace, Alice, and I were to go right to the heart of the lab; Layfair.

After going over the plan several times to make sure everyone had a clear understanding of what they were to do, we loitered around the cesspool for a little bit longer to get ourselves ready for when we went back into the lab. There was no time to run and look for better weapons, so we had to make due with what we had.

But if our plan went accordingly, then there shouldn't be much confrontation until we found Layfair. I had been kneeling down beside our attack plan drawn in the sand, going over it and making sure to memorize every last detail in case something went wrong.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of Alice. She was standing at the edge of the cesspool, staring out at the lab that we would enter shortly. I stood up and walked up behind her. "You know, you don't have to go if you don't want to," I told her softly.

She turned her head to look at me. Her eyes were serious, as was her expression when she told me, "I know, but I want to see the face of the monster that has caused all of this." I couldn't help but think that Alice had come such a long way from how she used to be before the second outbreak.

She used to wake up in the middle of the night in tears and shaking because of nightmares involving the very thing that we were going through again. Now, I doubted they would even bother her. I intertwined my hand in hers, causing her to meet my eyes. I told her sternly, "When all of this is over with, it will never happen again. We'll never have to take on this burden and pain of losing our friends ever again. Things will go back to normal."

She cracked a faint smile and said under her breath, "I know." For a moment, I saw a flash of the old Alice before Vestal began to crumble away, but it was short-lived. An ear-splitting whistle tore my attention away from her, and I turned to see that source was Dan.

He shouted to Alice and I, "Murucho says we're ready to get a move on!" We both left the edge of the cesspool and walked back over to the group. Alice picked up the crowbar that she had found sometime during my absence while it had only been her and Ace left. The others picked up their weapons as well, and we made our way around the cesspool.

The waste pipe that had thrown us out into the black sludge when the lines had been flushed, rested about five or six feet from the ground. I was the first to climb into the pipe, and Dan followed suit behind me. He knelt over the edge and helped the others up into the pipe.

I stood there, staring into the pitch black tunnel. This was the entrance into the beast's lair, and it made me realize that this was really happening, that we were really about to try and put an end to Layfair's tyranny. Murucho was the last to be helped up, and now all of us had entered into the pipeline.

The short blonde said, "This pipeline is pretty straightforward. It should be easy for us to find our way back into the tunnel system, and then back into the lab. So, let's go."

None of us said anything as we started to walk deeper into the pipeline. The further we went, the darker it got. Soon, we were unable to see each other, much less what was in front of us. We placed our hands on the wall in order to feel our way around, which helped some, but not much.

After what felt like hours of wandering around the pipeline, we finally saw light up ahead. With the promise of finally getting out of the putrid tunnel, we ran for it. As we got closer, I realized that it was the circular door that had slammed closed on us, locking us in the pipeline so we could be flushed out into the city. Now, we were a fourth of the way to our goal.

_Layfair_

I gazed down at the assembly lines as the perfected serum was mass produced. There had been hundreds of thousands, if not millions of the vials created since we realized that the serum was a success. I watched from my platform as the last box of serum rolled off the line.

One of the assistant below shouted up to me, "That's it, sir! We've made enough to cure all of Vestal!" I cracked a sadistic smile. _How foolish….These people. _Below, they began to celebrate, thinking that their friends and family would be brought back to life with this miracle in a vial.

"That's great!" I shouted down to them and turned around to face a keypad on the wall. I then proceeded to type in a code that I had programmed myself, one that only I knew about. On the assembly floor, cylindrical tubes began to rise from the floor.

My assistants jumped back into huddled masses, not knowing what was happening. I could hear them asking questions about what was going on before them. Before I opened the tubes, I walked back over to the edge of my platform and shouted to the people below, "You've all done a great job! And for all of your great work, I have come up with a special surprise for you!"

I turned back around and entered another code into the keypad, and the metal doors to the loading docks that had remained closed since I established this lab, began to open. Zombies then poured out onto the assembly floor, sinking their teeth into my employees.

They began to scream in pain and as they realized what was happening. Some of them that had weapons, began to shoot at the monsters in order to defend their own lives. Since none of them had been injected with the latest serum, they were not invisible to the zombies like I.

One of the assistants was backed up against one of the cylindrical tubes, shooting the rifle that had been given to him when he first began to work for me to create the serum. I smiled and typed in another code into the keypad, which caused the doors on the tubes to open.

The assistant that had been back up against one in a last ditch effort to survive, turned around, and I could see the color drain from his face. A large, clawed hand lunged out of the tube, ripping into his body and tearing him to pieces. The monster inside, which I had named the Lucifer Project, then emerged.

It was one of the experiments that I had been working on in secrecy. It walked on all fours like an animal, despite at one time that it had been a person. Its body looked like its skin had been torn off, leaving behind bloodied muscle and visible bones. They had no eyes, but saw with their sense of smell.

I watched as they lashed out their spiked tongues, grabbing onto my screaming assistants and tearing them in half. Blood turned the white tiled floor into a crimson sea of body parts as the monsters and zombies killed them all off. Henry, who had been standing behind me, was staring down at the scene in pure horror.

"W-what? M-Mr. Layfair…..What a-are you doing? I-I thought you w-were going to use the serum a-and cure Vestal. What are you doing!" Henry quickly lifted his rifle at me, tears streaking down his face as he realized my betrayal. "Oops. Looks like I lied," I said with a grin.

"It was never in my intentions to cure this world. I just said that I would in order to get help to achieve my goal. Without this help, it would have taken twice as long to create my serum. You people….Are such fools." Just as I said that, one of the monsters from below, ran up to the platform and lashed its tongue out, grabbing onto Henry.

His blood shot out as the spikes dug into his body. He screamed in agony when the Lucifer pounced on him, digging its long, razor sharp claws into his body. Then, it raised its head back, baring its jagged and dagger-like teeth, and finish demolishing what was left of my head assistant Henry.

It then walked up to me, making a sound like a low growl, but I knew was a purr. I placed my hand on the Lucifer, touching the warm and moist muscle that was exposed to the elements. "Very good, my pet. Now, go and take care of the rest of the lab. I don't want anyone left alive."

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i'm so happy i'm out of school for the week. X) yay me! check out my poll if you have not and read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	29. Slaughterhouse

_Shun_

It was easy to retrace our steps once we were back in the main tunnel system, especially since there was light filtering in through vent shafts, which allowed us to see. Murucho pointed up to a single grate in the ceiling of the tunnel and said, "I think this is the one we came out from."

Bolted into the wall was a metal ladder that led back up to the grate, allowing access to enter the floor above if so desired. "I'll climb up there and check," I said and pushed through Dan and Ace in order to reach the ladder. Climbing up the ten or twelve rungs, I pushed the grate open and peered inside.

The lab was empty and silent, but somehow, that didn't settle right with me. "It's clear," I told the others below. Cautiously, I climbed through the grate and into the lab. Some of the vials had been knocked over, their contents spilled out onto the floor and tables.

The others joined me in the lab one by one. I then heard Julie gasp, and I quickly turned to see what was wrong, weapon at the ready. She was pointing at something behind a desk, and I slowly walked around to see what it was. Laying on the ground, was the scientist that had told us how to escape the lab.

He had two bullet wounds in his body, and a large pool of dried blood rested around him. Decomposition was also beginning to set in. Dan, curious as to what the commotion was about, walked over behind the table to see. When he saw the scientist's body, his eyes widened.

"They killed Quinn," he said with disbelief. I shook my head and told the others, "We need to get moving." They tore their shocked gazes away from the dead body and we started our ascent up the staircase to the next floor up. Ace, who had made his way to the front of the group, opened the steel door to the next level, his hatchet at the ready for anything that might attack us.

The moment he stepped out into the hallway, I saw his eyes widen, and the hatchet fell to his side. "Oh God," was all he said. I stepped through the doorway to see what had caught him so off guard, and I wished I hadn't. The walls and floor was splattered in blood, and dismembered body parts littered the entire hallway.

It looked as if a mass slaughter had taken place. The others, curious as well, joined Ace and I. They saw the carnage before them, and covered their mouths out of either shock or the threat of being sick at the site. "Wh-what happened here?" Runo asked, as if one of us had the answer.

In a way, I did know. I told her flatly, "Layfair is what happened." I had a feeling that the entire lab may look like this floor. What had Layfair done in order to create this much bloodshed? I shook my thoughts away and told the others sternly, "We'll have to ignore all this for the time being. Right now, our priority is to stick to the plan."

They didn't say anything as we split up into our different groups. Dan and Murucho ran off upstairs, while Julie and Runo followed behind them. That just left Alice, Ace, and I to go and find Layfair and put and end to him.

There were several ways to gain access to the center of the lab, and in order to keep any of Layfair's men distracted, we took the farthest route from the one Dan's group was taking. Hopefully, we wouldn't run into much trouble, seeing as it appeared that all of the lab had been slaughtered overnight.

The three of us had gone up several floors now; I knew for a fact that Layfair was on the very top floor. We had perhaps four or five more levels to go, but even then, there wasn't a promise that our target would be there. Around us, the florescent lights in the hallway began to flicker on and off like strobes.

At the end of the hall, something stepped out from behind the corner. My first thought was that it was one of Layfair's assistants, but I was wrong. It was a monster of sorts. The thing had no eyes, walked on all fours, and looked as if its skin had been torn off. It then sniffed the air, and slowly turned its disfigured head towards us.

The creature then showed its long, jagged teeth in a snarl before charging at us. I grabbed onto Alice's arm and pulled her out of the way; Ace had also gotten out of dodge. The monster, obviously unprepared for our dodge, was unable to stop. He continued to slide down the hall, his claws digging into the tiled floor as a means to slow down.

Sparks flew up from where friction was created between his claws and the floor. It then halted, and slowly turned back to look at us. My heart was racing. What was this thing? It certainly was nothing that any of us had ever seen before. The monster let out a roar and charged at us once again.

"Run!" Ace shouted. He didn't have to tell us twice before we bolted down the hall, frantically searching for the staircase to the next level. The creature extended its arm out in an attempt the rip us apart with its claws, but it just missed. Alice let out a scream, which I assumed had been one of fear as the monstrosity got closer to us.

I held on tightly to her wrist, dragging her along behind me as we ran to get to safety. But we soon realized, that was had run into a dead end. Ace and I turned around, and saw the creature slowly walking towards us; it knew we were trapped.

It then stuck out its tongue, which was covered with spikes that were covered with the flesh of people it had ripped apart before us. In a last ditch-effort, I readied my sword, and Ace had his hatchet done the same way. The creature let out its roar and lunged at us.

When it did, I raised the blade of my sword at the last minute, making the monster's head fall right onto the blade, piercing its skull. This stopped him right in his tracks, but he was still alive. Ace quickly jumped in, slamming the blade of the hatchet down onto the creature's neck and severing its head from its body.

It did not move after that. Ace and I stood there, staring in horror at the creature. Both of us were panting heavily from the run, and our hands were trembling with fear and adrenaline. I began to calm down now that I was sure that we were safe. So, I turned around to check on Alice, and found her laying on the ground.

"Alice?" I asked, wondering if she had fainted from all of the pandemonium, but when blood started to soak the back of her shirt, I knew that there was something wrong. "Alice!" I ran and knelt down beside her, carefully helping her into a sitting position. She grimaced in pain.

My hand, which had been supporting her back, felt the warmth of blood. I looked as saw claw marks running along from her shoulders to her lower back. That thing had caught her while we had been running. That was why she had screamed, not due to fear, but because the creature had injured her.

I examined the wound more closely and told her, "It doesn't look too deep. You should be fine….You should be fine." I was saying this more to myself, for I was afraid that now I might lose her, after how far we had come. Alice cringed in pain again, but was able to give me a nod to show that she believed me.

"Ace! Help me get her to her feet," I told the mint-haired boy, who had still been staring and examining the monster that nearly killed us. He snapped out from his trance and ran over to help. Alice was able to stand on her own and walk, but not very fast. This was going to slow us down some, but there was nothing else we could do.

Ace shook his head and asked, "What the hell was that thing?" All I was able to do was shake my head. "I have no idea, but I hope we don't run into any more of them. And I really hope Dan and the others don't either," I said flatly. Ace and I were a bit more skilled at fighting, and we had trouble with that creature back there.

So, I hated to know how Dan and the others would handle themselves up against one. I snuck a glance at Alice to see how she was holding up. Her face had gone pale, and she seemed to be moving a bit slower now. "Do you need to take a break?" I asked, knowing that her injuries had to be painful.

A part of me wished that we still had the serums, so that way, she could use its rapid healing powers. But sadly, we had lost those serums a while ago. Alice shook her head. "No….I'm fine…." I didn't believe her though, but I knew that no matter how much I begged her to take it easy, she wasn't going to.

While wandering around on the same floor that we had just encountered that monster on, we found the staircase, which had been in the opposite direction of the way we ran. We opened the heavy steel door, and even the stairwell was painted red with blood.

The three of us walked up the stairs carefully, making sure not to slip on some of the still fresh blood. "Do you think there is anyone left?" Ace asked. My eyes narrowed when I replied, "Layfair. I know he'll still be alive." We were almost to the top of the staircase when Alice stopped walking.

She leaned against the handrail and was breathing heavily, as if she had been running for miles, rather than walking a few feet. "Alice?" I asked, growing increasingly worried. She held up her hand and said, "Just…..Catching my breath." She then pushed herself from the handrail and walked past me to finish out the last few steps in the stairwell.

From behind, I saw the gashes in her back. They looked painful, and I marveled her for fighting through this. Although, I wished she would take it easy or just stop pushing herself altogether. We entered into the next level, which looked no different from the last; blood was everywhere.

But what set this one apart from the rest, was the fact that zombies were crouched over dead bodies, and ripping out chunks of flesh. I felt my stomach turn at the site, and I was suddenly relieved that I had not turned into one of those mindless things.

They paid me no mind, but I knew they would pick up on Alice and Ace, for they were not under the protection of the serum. And sure enough, several of the zombies finished dining on their current feast, and began to lumber towards us. Ace and I stepped forward, ready for the small hoard.

I swung my sword, cutting into three zombies at once and slicing their bodies completely in half. They collapsed onto the tiled floor, pieces and all. During this time, Ace was burying the blade of the hatchet into every zombies' skull that came his way. Eventually, we had taken out the small hoard without so much as breaking a sweat.

I ran a hand through my hair and said with disbelief, "First that thing on the last floor, and now this. What else is going on here?" Behind me, I heard Alice coughing. Ace and I quickly turned around and ran over to her just in time to see a trickle of blood pour from her mouth. She then wavered a bit before falling over.

I caught her right before she hit the ground. "Alice!" I shouted while trying to shake her awake. Her eyes slowly opened, and I saw how the brown orbs were murky and glazed over, making them look like they were staring off far away. Her body was burning up with a fever, and dark circles lined her eyes.

She said hoarsely, "I….I don't feel…..so well." She started to close her eyes again, but I shook her awake; I didn't want her to fall asleep, because I feared she might not wake up. Ace then said, "Her back! Check her back!" I rolled her over and bit I lifted the end of her tattered shirt up.

It was sticky with her blood, and nearly turned black with all of the crimson liquid she had lost. Now that her back was exposed, I saw what was forming around the claw marks; her skin was turning black with decay. It looked just like my arm and neck did, and I knew what this meant. She was infected.

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in case i don't have time to upload tomorrow, HAPPY THANKSGIVING! so, enjoy that turkey and read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	30. Obstacle Course

_Shun_

I ran a shaky hand through my hair. This couldn't be happening. I couldn't be losing Alice now, not after how far we had made it. It wasn't right that we were near the end, and now this was happening. "The serum….We've got to find it…..We've got to get it to her," I said while pacing back and forth.

I knew that if we got the serum that we could save her, but it was the psychological effect that this was having on me. I wasn't able to handle the fact that something bad had befell Alice, and I had failed to keep her safe. I blamed myself. Ace was gazing down at Alice, his eyes looking distant. He then tightened his grip on the hatchet in his hands and lifted it.

When I realized what he was doing, I grabbed my sword and blocked the blade of the hatchet from going into Alice. Ace's mint green hair shielded his eyes in a shadow. "It's not fair," he hissed through gritted teeth and swung the hatchet at me. I jumped back, nearly tripping over the severed arm of a zombie that we had killed.

It was obvious that Ace had lost it. "Ace!" I shouted, trying to get through to him and make him snap out of it. He swung the hatchet again, and I blocked the blow with the blade of my sword. I looked at where the two blades had collided, and saw as the hatchet's sharpened edge actually began to cut into the blade of my sword.

Before it could cut the steel in half, I jumped to the side and out of the way before anymore damage could be done. "Ace! Stop this!" I shouted. Ace then lifted his head, revealing his eyes to me. They were narrowed, and tears were spilling over.

He hissed, "It's not fair. Everything has come back for you. You haven't really lost anything during all of this. It's all come back, just for you. I've lost everything that I've held dear to me! None of it's come back! So, I'm going to make sure that you lose at least one thing!"

He lunged back at Alice, but I tackled him to the ground. The force of it caused the hatchet to slip from his grip and go sliding across the tiled floor. Now that I had him pinned down, I held the sharpened end of the sword's blade to his throat. His eyes widened when he realized that I was in a position to kill him.

"Don't think I won't do it, Ace! I will! Stand down!" I shouted. He growled, his eyes still looking mad and wild. I had to snap him out of this madness before he gave me no other choice but to hurt him. He said through gritted teeth, "Everything. Everything came back for you. What about me, huh? Nothing's come back for me."

I shook my head, still holding the blade to his throat. "Ace, listen to me! We can bring Mira and the others back! They can, and will, come back! All we have to do is get rid of Layfair and get more of the serum!" I shouted while trying to keep my anger down.

I didn't really blame Ace for how he was acting; grief had finally gotten a grip on him, and he was unable to handle it. The way he saw it, I was fortunate to have all of my friends back and alive, while all of his were dead. He probably loathed me for that reason, and because of the grief he was feeling over the loss of his friends, it had clouded his judgment, making him forget that we could bring them back as well.

It had only taken one spark to ignite this fire that sent Ace over the edge. His eyes weren't as distant now, and I wondered if his was starting to come to.

"Ace?" I asked, lifting the blade from his throat a bit. Slowly, I removed the sword and stood up, no longer pinning him to the ground. He sat up, rubbing his neck at where the blade had been placed. "Sorry…..," he said under his breath. "I…I don't know what came over me…"

I could see now that he was back to his senses, much to my relief; I didn't want to be given no other choice but to take him down. He then looked at me and asked, "Would you have really killed me?" I tightened my grip on the handle of my sword.

"Yeah…..If you gave me no other option," I said flatly. "But I was at least going to try to snap you out of it before anything else," I quickly added. It wouldn't have been bad if I had killed Ace, seeing as the serum could bring him back, but it was something I wouldn't have been proud of.

Ace sighed and shook his head. "Well, thanks for….You know….Not killing me," he said awkwardly. I could see that he didn't like that he had lost it anymore than I liked having to turn on him. He looked up at me from the floor and said, "You know I'd never do anything to hurt Alice, right? That wasn't me earlier."

I held up my hand to stop him from saying anything further. "I know, Ace. I'm not holding any of this against you. This world, it puts more stress than some people can handle. All it did was push you to your breaking point. Nothing more, nothing less," I said with a heavy sigh.

I had been at that point. It was back on Earth while we were holed up in Murucho's mansion. I had been leading a team throughout the mansion to clear out the remaining floors from zombies, when I had finally snapped. And because of that, somebody ended up dying by my hands.

I still hadn't forgiven myself for that. Alice's coughing brought me out of my thoughts, and I ran back over to her side. The black decay was spreading, consuming her rather quickly. I shook my head and said, "She's going to need that serum soon, or else she's going to turn."

The serum would still turn her back to a human if the virus did kill her, but I didn't want to see her like that. I didn't want to see her as a mindless, flesh-eating monster. I ran my hand through my hair again. Back on Earth, Alice had been bitten once, but never turned, or even showed signs of being infected.

It had been then that we realized that she was immune. Now, it was quite obvious that she wasn't immune to this latest virus. I shook my head and stood up, picking up my sword as I did so. "Stay here with her," I told Ace sternly. He stared at me as if I had gone crazy.

"What? You want me to stay here with her? What if I lose it again? I might hurt her." I could see that Ace was conflicted about my request, and that he was also afraid of what he might do. "You're not going to lose it again, I'm sure of it. Just…..Just stay here with her. I'm going to find the serum and bring one back," I said bolted up the staircase, leaving Ace behind with Alice. I had to find the serum before it was too late.

_Ace_

I stood there in disbelief. Shun had just left me with Alice, who I had tried to kill not five minutes ago. Had he gone crazy? I could lose it again, and then how would I stop myself from harming her? If I did hurt her, I knew that Shun would not forgive me.

He might even kill me in return, but somehow I felt that he wouldn't do that. Although, he had admitted that he would have killed me back there if I had not snapped out of it when I did. I ran a hand through my hair and sat down beside Alice.

I was conflicted. He told me that he knew I wouldn't lose it again. How could he be so sure about that? I had gone mad once, so what was stopping me from doing it again? Beside me, Alice let out a whimper. Her eyes opened slightly, gazing far off into the distance.

"Shun?" she said weakly while trying to look around for him. I shook my head and told her, "He's not here right now, but he said he'd be back soon." She nodded and let out a small gasp of pain. A single tear rolled down her cheek. "My back…..It hurts," she said with a sob.

I could even begin to imagine what kind of pain she had to be in at the moment, but there was nothing I could do for it until Shun returned with the serum. "I know," I said gently. "You'll have to put up with it for a little bit though. I'm sorry." Her shirt was lifted a bit, exposing her abdomen, and I saw as the black discoloration spread from her back around to her stomach.

She screamed out in pain and dug her nails into the floor. I couldn't stand to sit there and watch somebody deal with so much agony, so I offered her my hand as something to hold onto. Her grip tightened on my hand, and I felt her nails dig into my wrist.

Blood was drawn, and I retracted my hand back from the pain. When I looked at the injury, I saw five crescent moon shaped slits in my wrist from where her nails had cut me, and fine lines of my blood ran down my arm.

Alice continued to cry out in pain, not even realizing that she had hurt me or that she let go of my hand; the only thing she knew, was that she was in pain. I sat there beside her, trying to block out her cries, and began to wonder if Mira had suffered like this.

Had her death been quick and painless, or drawn out and agonizing like Alice's? I hated to think that she may have suffered. _Just wait a bit longer, Mira. We'll bring you and everyone else back. _A headache began to form, and I thought it may have been from listening to Alice's shrieks.

I brought my hand up to rub my temples, but saw something that caught my eye. It was my wrist. Right where Alice's nails had dug into me, was starting to turn black.

_Dan_

The goal of having Murucho and I in the front was to create a distraction while Runo and Julie went for the electrical system and shut the lab down. But there was nobody for us to distract; they were all dead. We quickly saw why though when we passed by a small group of zombies.

Apparently they had gotten in somehow and ripped everyone in the lab to shreds. Since we had no fear of being attacked by them, we went on our way, searching for the electrical room. All while we ran, I wondered how Shun, Ace, and Alice were doing. Had they run into any trouble?

Or had they realized like us and saw that there was no challenge in our task? The four of us ran up our final flight of stairs; this floor would have the electrical room in it.

Shutting down the power to the lab would give us a slight advantage against Layfair; it would stop the equipment from working, and even cease production of anymore of his sadistic biological weapons. And without the power, the code-activated doors would all become unlocked now, making access to rooms easier.

Up ahead, I saw the sign for the electrical room. The four of us ran inside of it, closing the heavy steel door behind us. Inside, we were greeting with a large machine that ran power to the entire lab. Lights flickered all about it, but we knew that there was one switch that would shut it all down.

We searched over the machine until we found that very switch. I pulled it down, and the lights went off, leaving everything black for a moment. The only lights that stayed on were the emergency strobes, which were the red flashing lights bolted into the wall every so often. I then lifted my foot and kicked the switch, breaking it off so nobody could turn the power back on.

"Okay, now let's try and find the rest of our group and help them out," I said to the others. They nodded and we hurried out of the electrical room. The red strobes provided very little light, but enough to see down the hallway until the next light. I then caught sight of something moving towards the end of the hall.

"Hey, there's something down there," I whispered to the others. They squinted their eyes, trying to find what it was I was seeing. I only saw its silhouette, and to me it looked like a large dog. It then stepped underneath a strobe light, which revealed to us what it really was.

It was a hideous beast; no eyes and no skin. Its tongue slithered out, and I saw it was covered with spikes. My eyes widened at the sight of this thing. What was it? The monster then let out a roar and lunged at us. Reacting quickly, the four of us dove into the electrical room was had just left, and slammed the steel door closed.

Outside, the monster was ramming itself into the door to try and break it down. I could see the hinges on the door bending, and knew it wouldn't hold forever.

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happy thanksgiving! i'm going to be thankful for when i finally finish this story up XP read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	31. Compromised

_Dan_

I pressed my back against the furthest wall in the electrical room, and watched as the steel door bent as the monster outside tried to break in. Julie and Runo had their eyes shut tightly and were huddled together, obviously afraid of what would happen to us if that thing did get in.

The creature had appeared when the others and I were about to leave and go find Shun and his group, but that plan had been cut short when the grotesque monster cornered us in the electrical room. Murucho was biting the ends of his nails, and his eyes scanned around the room.

"There's no way of getting out of here. Not even an air vent," he said nervously. One of the door hinges finally gave way, falling to the floor. Now, the door bent in towards the top, and I saw the creatures arm reach in through the newly created opening. It flailed its around, trying to feel and find us.

When it realized that it wouldn't get to us like that, it went back to ramming its body into the door to break it down. My hands tightened into fists at my sides. We couldn't go down like this. Not now. We had come this far, and to be done in now would just be humiliating. My eyes began to look around for something to fight with; all I could find was the switch that I broke off from the main electrical machine.

The gears in my head began to click. Attacked to the handle of the broken switch, were two metal pipes, each about a foot in length. I quickly picked up the broken switch and was able to detach the handle from the two pipes. Murucho asked, "Dan, what are you doing? You honestly can't think that those will stop that thing?"

I grinned and told him, "They aren't going to stop him." Murucho stared at me like I had gone completely mental. I then rammed the two pipes into the electrical machine behind us, sending a flurry of sparks as the metal came in contact with wires that still held electric currents.

"Stand to the side," I told the others. They still weren't sure as to what I was doing, but they apparently trusted me enough to do as I told them. I stood there in front of the machine, the two pipes only a few inches from my back, and I kept my eyes locked on the door as I waited for the right time.

Another hinge flew off, and now the door was bent in half. The monster stuck its upper body into the tiny electrical room, drool hanging from its jagged teeth. It then backed out and rammed the door one more time, taking the entire thing off of its last hinge.

The steel door fell to the ground, and the beast stepped onto it, sniffing the air. Slowly, it turned its sightless face towards me and snarled. The creature then lunged at me, and I could hear the others screaming for me to get out of the way.

I remained glued in my spot until the very last minute, then dove out of the way, causing the monster to fall chest first onto the two metal pipes stuck into the machine. Sparks flew and its body convulsed as remaining electric currents created a circuit.

The nauseating smell of burning flesh filled the room after the monster remained still and motionless. Murucho stared at the beast in shock. "Dan, that was genius," he told me without taking his gaze from the monster. The corpse of the creature then caught fire as the shockwaves continued to fry him, and the smoke detectors caught whiff of the burning flesh.

They then activated the sprinkler system, and water came shooting out from the ceiling, soaking us and everything else. I told the others, "Come on! Let's hurry up and find Shun, Ace, and Alice before another one of these things pop up." I looked over at the burning monster, knowing good and well that there had to be more of them. Out in the hallway, water was starting to collect on the floor.

It had mixed with the blood that stained the tiles and walls, creating a red river for us to walk through. At the moment, the water level was nothing more than an inch or so, but I knew it would raise the longer the sprinklers ran. Hopefully, the other floors weren't experiencing the same thing as this one, or else the whole building was going to flood until the system was shut down.

_Ace_

I was leaning against the wall holding on tightly to my wrist. It had started to burn with pain, and the black discoloration had consumed more of my arm. Sweat was pouring from my forehead due to the fever that was taking over my body. It had been an accident that this happened.

I had given my hand to Alice so she could have something to hold onto as she dealt with her own agony, and because of that, she dug her nails into my wrist, causing me to become infected through the contact. I tilted my head back, trying to deal with the pounding of my own blood in my ears.

Beside me, the orange-haired girl had passed out. Or, at least, I hoped she had passed out. I was staring down the hallway in front of me; sometime ago, the lights had gone out, signaling that Dan's team had succeeded in turning the power off. Now, only red strobes provided any form of illumination.

The walls around me began to spin, and I brought my hands up to the sides of my head, hoping that it would help with my dizziness; it didn't do anything. The sprinklers the were bolted into the ceiling suddenly came on. The water came spinning out from the little metal contraptions, soaking the floor.

The blood that stained every square inch began to dilute as the water mixed in with it, but everything was still crimson red. I felt water droplets land on my skin, and I sighed with relief at the cool touch on my fever-ridden body. Soon, the floor began to accumulate with the water, covering the tiles with a red mixture of blood and water.

The hallways were still spinning, but I was able to make out the shape of something at the end. At first, I thought it might have been Shun returning with the serum, but as the figures got closer, I realized it was not him. They walked into the path of the red strobe lights, and I saw the decayed flesh and torn clothes.

_Zombies. _They shuffled towards Alice and I, water splashing as they trudged through. There appeared to be four of them overall. They then got closer to us, and two of them knelt down beside Alice. I couldn't bring myself to look to know what they might have been doing to the poor unconscious girl.

Then, the other two knelt down in front of me. One of them placed his dead hands on my shoulders, and I flailed my arms around to try and get him off. "No! Let me go!" I shouted, but was too weak to truly fight back.

_Dan_

After walking around for a bit, we stumbled upon Ace and Alice. The two of them were laying on the ground at the end of a hallway. Panicked, we ran up to them, trudging through the collecting water that was starting to flood this floor as well. Ace opened his eyes and saw us coming, but they quickly widened with fear the closer we got to him.

Julie and Runo ran over to Alice's side to check on her, while Murucho and I went to check on Ace. I placed my hands on his shoulders to try and get a better look at him in the darkened hallway, but he suddenly started to fight back. "No! Let me go!" he shouted, arms flailing around weakly.

"Ace! It's me! It's Dan!" I tried to say over his screams. I turned to Murucho and told him, "Help me hold his arms down so he doesn't hurt himself." Murucho nodded and grabbed onto Ace's wrist to make sure that the mint-haired boy wouldn't do anything to cause himself harm.

I looked at him and realized that he was crying. "Please….Please don't eat me," he begged with a sob. Eat him? Something was seriously wrong here. Murucho then said, "Uh, Dan. Check out his wrists." The short blonde had turned over Ace's wrists and I could see where five crescent shaped cuts were in his skin, and all around them had turned black.

"He's infected," I said immediately. Ace was still crying and begging for us not to eat him. I figured that since he was infected with the virus, he must have been hallucinating and thought we were zombies. I shook my head and ran a hand through my wet hair.

"Dan….Look at Alice," Runo said with a sob. I left Ace's side and moved over to look at my other friend. She was laying on the ground, and three long gashes ran down her back. All around them and on her abdomen had turned black with decay. _Alice is infected too? _

I couldn't believe any of this. What was going on? Murucho was still over by Ace, trying to get the mint-haired boy out of his trance. "Ace, come on. Snap out of it," Murucho pleaded. Ace only continued to fight against the short blonde, although he was too weak to even knock Murucho's hand to the side.

I shook my head and said, "This is madness. Where's Shun at? He was with them." I began to grow worried. If Ace and Alice had been attacked, then what could have happened to Shun? Much to our luck, Ace started to come to. He blinked his glazed over gray eyes and looked at all of us.

"Huh? Wh-where did you g-guys come from?" he asked in a slurred tone. He might not have been completely coherent, but at least he didn't think we were zombies. I asked him, "Ace, do you remember what happened to you and Alice?" He sat up a bit and leaned against the wall so he wouldn't fall back down.

"We….We were attacked by some monster a couple of floors down…..It got Alice and infected her, so Shun left to go find the serum for her…..He told me to stay behind and watch her…," he told us groggily. The claw marks on Alice's back made sense now.

I thought back to how the metal door looked after that creature had broken it down; the same kind of claw marks that were on Alice's back had been on the door as well. Beside me, Runo and Julie were still trying to wake Alice, but to no prevail.

I turned back to Ace and asked him, "What about you? How did you get infected?" His gaze shifted over to Alice and he said weakly, "She scratched me on accident and transferred the virus to me." For these two, anything and everything went wrong for them.

I then asked, "How long ago did Shun leave to go get the serum?" Ace tilted his head back, as if the answer was written on the ceiling. "He left maybe an hour before the power went out," Ace told me. _Okay, he hasn't been gone that long now, _I thought to myself.

The power had only been shut down for half and hour at the most. Then again, a lot could have gone wrong in an hour and a half. Shun could have run into one of those monsters and been injured. If that had happened, then Alice and Ace wouldn't get the serum before they turned.

And quite frankly, I didn't want to see either one of them turn into a zombie, even if they could still be cured afterwards. I slipped Ace's arm over my shoulder and helped him to his feet.

"Runo, Julie, help get Alice up. We're going to get these two somewhere safe, then find Shun and help him get the serum to them," I said sternly. The two girls nodded and picked Alice up; between the two of them, they were able to carry the unconscious girl. We then hurried over to a staircase and started up to the next level.

* * *

oh boy, it's black friday. if anyone is going out there today, stay safe and shop smart. read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	32. Delayed

_Shun_

I hadn't stopped running since I left Alice with Ace; I had to hurry up and find where the serums were being kept now. The florescent lights above me then began to flicker, then go out, leaving the emergency red strobe lights flashing throughout the hallways.

This made it a bit more difficult to see up ahead, but I didn't have much worries about what was waiting on me. _Unless there's another one of those things, _I added grimly. That creature, or whatever it was called, was the reason I had to leave Alice and Ace to find the serum.

It had scratched Alice, causing her to become infected with this God-awful virus. I reached the door to the staircase that took me up to the next level. Since the power had been shut down, all of the locking mechanisms had stopped working, allowing me access into any room of my liking.

I opened the door and started up the staircase, but quickly came to a halt. In the stairwell, was another one of those creatures. It had its face buried deep within a dead body, gorging himself on the corpse's flesh. Behind him, the door to the next level had been ripped to shreds.

Instantly, mental images started to pop into my head of what went on here. The person that was now being eaten on, probably looked for refuge here in the stairwell, thinking that he would be safe from the zombies. And he most likely would have stayed alive, if this monster hadn't been thrown into the mix.

The monster would have sniffed him out and discovered his hiding place, then ripped through the door and killed him instantly. For the moment, the creature hadn't noticed my presence in the stairwell, and I slowly began to back up to get away.

As I stepped onto the stair below, my foot landed on a piece of shattered glass, causing it to crack beneath my weight. The monster's head shot up from the body, and it stood there in an alert position. Then, it stuck its nose up into the air and began to sniff.

Slowly, it turned and looked at me, its face contorting into a wicked snarl as it locked onto my scent. The one flashing, red strobe in the stairwell made it somewhat difficult to see, and because of this, I didn't realize that the creature had lashed its spiked tongue out at me until I felt it wrap around my leg.

The spikes dug in, causing me to cry out. Then, I felt as the creature jerked its tongue back, knocking me off of my feet. I landed back-first on the stairs, which temporarily stunned me as one of the steps caught me in my spine. The creature then used its tongue and started to pull me towards him.

No longer stunned, I regained use of my limbs and started to struggle against the beast. I latched my hands onto a step and held on so I wouldn't be pulled any closer to the mouth of this monster. It must have realized my plan, for it then began to tighten its tongue around my leg, causing a new wave of pain to shoot through me.

I screamed and ended up letting go of the stair that I had been so desperately clinging to. Now, I was being pulled back towards the creature once again. I had to act quick, or else I would possibly end up like the poor soul that had been trapped in this stairwell, and Alice wouldn't receive the serum that she needed to combat her infection.

I felt something hitting my hip, and remembered that I still had my sword and whip-chain with me. Acting swiftly, I untied the sword from my belt loop and sat up. When I did, I realized how close the monster had pulled me to him; I wasn't but a few feet away from him.

I could smells its foul breath, which reeked of death and decay. Its tongue was still wrapped tightly around my leg, and I raised the blade of the sword, then brought it down onto the creature's tongue, severing it from his body.

Blood spewed out from its mouth, and it let out a high-pitched shriek of pain. I scrambled back a bit as I watched the monster flail about in agony. The severed piece of tongue was still wrapped around my leg, and I reached down to pull it off.

The spikes that littered the appendage were burrowed deep within my flesh, and I had to use most of my strength in order to get them out. The pain was blinding, almost to the point that it would have made me pass out. But I knew that the injured creature before me wouldn't be immobilized by his pain for much longer, which made me force myself to stay conscious through the pain.

I finally ripped the last spike out of my leg and threw the severed tongue off to the side. My leg was drenched in blood, and I could see the holes created in my flesh from the spikes. In front of me, I no longer heard the animalistic shrieks, and when I looked up, I saw that the monster had stopped flailing about.

Threads of flesh then shot out of its mouth and fashioned themselves into a brand new tongue. If this creature would have had eyes, I had a feeling that they would be narrowed at me. It then roared and began its charge at me to get its revenge. I quickly reached for my whip-chain and flung the small blade that was attached to it.

The blade buried itself into where an eye would have been on the creature. Now, I held the end of the chain while the blade was stuck in its skull. I then controlled the chain to my advantage, and was able to get it wrapped around the beast's throat.

It apparently didn't realize what I was trying to do, so it paid the chain no mind as it charged at me again. In the narrow stairwell, I didn't have much room to work with, so I dodged its attack at the very last minute. Now, the monster was on the stairs below me, giving me a higher advantage.

Then, I wrapped the chains around my hands and began to pull. The chains tightened up around the monster's neck, constricting its airway. The beast tried to run towards me, but it stumbled, struggling to even stand as oxygen was cut off from its brain.

From the stairs above, I could hear the chain crushing the bones in its neck and crushing its windpipe, along with the fact that I could see the metal links cutting deep into its throat. Black blood then began to pour from its throat like a waterfall, flooding the stairs around it.

In one swift motion, I gave the chains in my hands a good pull, which allowed the links to bury themselves even deeper into its neck, and severed its head from its shoulders. Its body collapsed with a thud, and black ooze started to drip out from the corpse.

I stood there, shoulders shaking as I let out heavy breaths, and dropped down to the stairs beneath me. The stairwell was spinning violently around me, and I could feel the burning pain in my leg getting worse. I clutched my injured leg, feeling the warmth of my blood covering the limb.

The edges of my vision were trying to go black, but I fought through the threat of passing out and forced myself to stay awake. Above me, the red strobe light was nothing more than a blurry red dot that was flashing. Then, it started to come back into focus.

Everything came back into focus. Nothing else was spinning, and my pain was starting to subside. I sat up and looked at my leg; all of the bloody holes in my flesh were gone, healed completely up. _The serum, _I thought to myself. It had done this.

All I could guess about the sudden wave of pain and vertigo was that the virus was trying to get me back under its grip, but the serum had done its job and fought it off. _It works. _I had just been infected again, and the serum put an end to it before it could do anything to me.

I stood up, placing weight on my once-injured leg; it felt as if there had never been anything wrong with it from the start. I then reminded myself that Layfair had the same stuff in him. He could heal just like I did, except much faster. How was I going to combat that?

I glanced back down at the corpse of the creature; it was already starting to decay away. Above me, something made a clicking sound, and when I looked up, the sprinklers began to spin and send water droplets flying through the air.

They fell onto every square inch of the blood-covered stairwell, washing the blood off of the walls and onto the floor into a diluted mixture, but you could still tell it was there. Water quickly began to pool at the base of the stairwell where the creature's body was.

Now, it floated there as the water started to collect. The floor was starting to flood quickly, and I had a feeling that the entire lab would be underwater in no time.

_Dan_

I set Ace down, leaning him against the wall of the latest floor that we had entered. Just like the rest of the floors, the sprinkler system was still running, flooding the floors and soaking us to the bone. But on this floor, there was more water covering the tiles; about three inches worth of it.

Murucho made the point of saying, "I have a feeling that this whole lab is going to flood. I mean, each floor that we've been on, I haven't seen a single drain to send the water somewhere else. It's an architecturally designed failure." He made a good point.

None of the floors or stairwells had runoff drains to catch the water in case the sprinklers did go off. I found this somewhat strange. Behind me, Runo and Julie set Alice down beside Ace. The two of them weren't doing so good. Alice, who apparently had the worse of the two infections, was falling fast.

The black discoloration had started to spread upwards, even to the point that it was reaching her shoulders and starting to go down her arms. Soon, her entire body would be consumed if we didn't do something. Ace on the other hand, wasn't as bad, but he still wasn't in the best of shape.

Half of his arm had turned black from where Alice had accidentally transferred the virus over to him through a scratch. Runo, whole was knelt down on the flooded floor next to Alice, asked me, "Do you think Shun's found the serums yet?"

I ran a hand through my waterlogged hair and told her, "I have no clue, Runo. He might have, or he could have run into some trouble." The bluenette had a grim look on her face as she turned back to look at Alice. Since we found the two, Alice hadn't even done so much as opened her eyes or made a sound, which led me to believe that she couldn't hang on much longer.

Up ahead of us, I heard something like the sound of somebody running. Then, a person ran from around the corner, tripping and stumbling through the increasing water level. Behind him, he was being pursued by two zombies. "Help! Help me, please!" he shouted.

I acted quickly and took the hatchet that Ace had been carrying, and ran towards the two zombies. The man they were chasing after, darted behind me for protection. In one fluent motion, I sliced into their skulls, nearly severing the skullcap from their heads.

They dropped onto the flooded tile floor like a pile of rocks. Behind me, the man that had been running, latched onto me and said, "Thank you! Thank you!" I shook him off, finding his gratitude to be somewhat annoying and creepy. I asked him, "Are you infected?"

He shook his head, the wet brown locks of his hair hitting his face. "No! They didn't bite me, I swear! You can check if you want," he said while showing me his arms to prove that he was clean. "Alright. Alright, we believe you," I told him in order to stop him from striping his clothes off to prove that he was not infected.

He then took my hand in his and began to shake it. "I'm Jackson. Again, thank you so much for helping me," he said while still shaking my hand. I then pulled my hand away so he would stop. It then occurred to me who this guy was. He was the owner of the identification card that I stole and posed as.

This was the actual Jackson. He had turned around and was looking at our two ailing friends. Jackson was looking at Alice and I saw his eyes widen. "She was infected by a Lucifer?" he asked while pointing to her.

All of us stood there, confused as to what he meant. Murucho asked him, "A Lucifer? What in the world is that?" Jackson stood up and cast his eyes down on the ground. "It was a project that Mr. Layfair was working on in secrecy. I was part of the team that worked for developing them. They're those monsters that are running around in the lab and attacking anything they can," he said grimly.

I spoke up and asked him curtly, "Wait, so you mean that you helped create those four-legged freaks?" He nodded slowly and turned to look back at Alice.

He then said, "Layfair wanted to press the virus further, to see how it would react. Well, we quickly discovered that under certain circumstances, the virus mutates the host, turning them into your so-called monsters. Layfair liked the results and said that they could be an added addition to the virus, which he is planning on selling as a biological weapon. So, he ordered us to continue to make the virus mutate people. And thus, the Lucifer Project was created."

I stared at Jackson, utterly dumbfounded. Layfair had created those things….From people. How could one person be so inhumane?

Jackson ran a hand through his hair and told us, "I hated working on that project. We were under strict orders to keep it secret, so we did. In fact, it was to the point that we were hardly allowed to leave the lab due to risk that somebody might ask us what department we were in. And then…..Then Layfair let out the six Lucifers that we had been working on. They tore through the lab, along with a hoard of zombies that he had been keeping hidden from everyone, and started to kill anything that moved."

Now, we knew how many of those things were running around. So far, we knew of two that had been killed; one by Ace and Shun when Alice was first infected, then one by us in the electrical room. But that still left four of the bloodthirsty creatures.

Jackson tightened his hand into a fist and punched the wall next to him. "Layfair lied to all of us! He said that he'd use the serum and cure Vestal….But that had all been a lie in order to get people to help him develop his serum….When we were no longer needed was when he released the zombies and Lucifers as a means to get rid of us," Jackson said, hatred and betrayal clear as day on his face.

I couldn't even begin to wonder how horrible this had to be for him. He, along with countless other people, were tricked into working for Layfair, mainly due to the promise of their home planet being freed from the virus. Instead, they were disposed of like trash. I asked Jackson, "Do you know if Layfair is still in this building?"

The ex-employee looked at me and said, "He should be. It's not like he has any reason to be running. The zombies won't touch him because he's been injected with the serum, and the Lucifers won't attack him because he trained them to know his scent. He's completely safe, and knowing him, he's probably sitting by and watching this slaughter."

Over to the side, Ace began to cough, and a thin line of blood ran down from the corner of his mouth. They were running out of time. I quickly asked, "What about the serums? Do you have any clue as to where they're being kept?"

He moved his wet hair out from his eyes and said, "Yeah. They're where the loading dock of the lab is. Thousands, maybe even millions of vials were produced before Layfair killed everyone. I latched onto Jackson's shoulders and looked at him with serious and narrowed eyes. I said sternly, "Take us to them. Now."

* * *

here, have some suspense for your Sunday. **also, check out my profile for a NEW POLL**! it is no longer concerning a sequel, but rather what story i should start after this one and Southern Hymn. read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	33. Crash And Burn

_Dan_

We followed Jackson's lead throughout several hallways and floors. He was the living map that we were using to find the serums that Alice and Ace were in desperate need of. When we first met Jackson, he was being chased by several zombies, and we saved him before they had the chance to infect him, and it was a good thing we did.

If we had not, then we would still be lost as to where the serums were, and the inevitable fact that Ace and Alice would succumb to the virus was all the more real. But we had also learned a bit of a back-story on Jackson as well.

He was responsible for the creation of the mutated monsters that were running around the lab; the Lucifers as he had called them. Although, he didn't like the fact that he had helped with the development of those vicious creatures, but had no other choice. Layfair had ordered him and his team to continue on with the project, and now there had been a total of at least six of the Lucifers running wild; but as far as we knew, two of them were dead.

To our knowledge, that still left four of the hard-to-kill abominations; we didn't know if somebody had killed anymore of them. Ahead of us, Jackson was still leading us to the surplus of serums. He had an extensive knowledge of the layout of the lab, despite the fact that Layfair had kept him and his team locked away underground as they worked on the Lucifers.

Above us, the sprinklers were still running, filling the hallways and rooms with more and more water. Seeing as we were on an upper level, I couldn't help but wonder how flooded the lower floors had to be at this point. They all could have possibly been engulfed with water now.

Suddenly, Jackson stopped walking, the seven inch deep water becoming still around his legs. He turned slightly so he could look at us and said, "The loading dock should be just up ahead, but I have no clue as to what kind of shape it'll be in."

I saw him shudder a bit, as if reliving some horrible memory, which he may have. According to what Jackson had told us thus far, the loading dock was where this mass exodus started. It had been ground zero for the slaughter of all of Layfair's people as the madman released zombies and Lucifers onto the innocent and clueless workers.

There really was no telling what we would be faced with on the other side of that door. Slowly, Jackson approached the door, and with one good pull, opened it. Water came rushing out, adding about another two inches to the already increasing water level in this hallway.

On the other side of the door, we were faced with a massive room. The ceiling itself has to have been a good two or three stories high, with solid, cinder block walls. Two steel garage doors were raised up, and I figured that had been where Layfair was keeping his zombie inventory when he released them into the lab.

Jackson told us flatly, "Watch your step." We then entered into the loading dock, and I could feel the stairs that Jackson warned us about beneath the water. The flooded dock looked like it might have only had a few inches on water accumulated, but its looks were deceiving.

The floor, lower than that of the one in the hallway we just left, brought the water level up to our waists, making it much more difficult to walk through. Boxes floated around on the water's surface, and as one drifted past me, I cautiously opened it.

Inside, were individually wrapped vials of the serum and syringes, almost like they were prepped for delivery and to be distributed to the people of Vestal. But we all knew that this packaging was only to make Layfair's lie more believable.

Jackson told us, "Set your friends down somewhere out of the water so we can administer the serum to them." After searching for a bit, we found a conveyor belt that was just out of the water's reach. We quickly set Alice and Ace down on top of the immobile belt.

The two of them were looking rough, but none more than Alice. Her breathing had become shallow at some point, and for a moment I thought she might have stopped breathing. But my fears were put to rest when she coughed. I let out a slight sigh of relief, glad that we may have gotten them their help in time.

We were just about to stick the needle of a syringe into Ace's arm, when I heard somebody run into the loading dock. I turned around, and found Shun standing in the doorway, frantically looking around. His eyes then locked on us, and the color drained from his face.

_Shun_

After my previous encounter with another one of those monsters, I picked up my pace. I didn't have time for all of these delays; all they were doing was wasting my time, time that I could have been using to find the serums for Alice.

I left out of the stairwell where I had just killed one of the most recent creatures, and found myself on the floor that the others and I had been on when we first escaped from the lab. Just like the rest of the floors, it was flooded, the water level rising as the sprinklers added more to it.

It would only be a matter of time before the entire lab went underwater. As I trudged through the knee-high water, I thought I caught a glimpse of a white lab coat, but I wasn't sure with the dim lighting and flashing strobes. To see if it was who I thought it was, I started to chase after the figure.

On the inside, I could feel my rage starting to build up. If I had really stumbled upon Layfair, then I could foresee a bloodbath coming. With the taste of my revenge right there on the tip of my tongue, I ran faster, ignoring the water that was trying to slow me down.

I rounded a corner and halted. It was him. Layfair stood where the hallway connected to another, a sly grin on his face. I narrowed my eyes and growled, my hands tightening into fists as well. He then smiled evilly and shot down the hallway, and I quickly bolted after him.

He wasn't going to slip by me again. I was then faced with the end of the hallway, and a door was swung open. Figuring that was where Layfair ran into, I crossed the threshold and began to look for the psychopath. But instead of finding him, I found the others.

They were all gathered around a conveyor belt, and I saw what was laying in front of them; both Ace and Alice. I could feel the color drain away from my face, and the thought of Layfair had slipped away from my mind at that moment. "Shun?" Dan asked me, obviously just as surprised to see me as I was to see them.

I jumped down into the water below, finding it reach just above my waistline, and I hurried over to the others. A slight sense of relief flooded over me when I saw that they were all here, and thankfully in one whole piece. When I was closer, I saw what they were doing.

A syringe was held in Murucho's hand, and about to go into Ace's arm. "The serums….You guys found them," I said with a rush of relief. It then occurred to me that Ace hadn't been infected when I left him with Alice. "Ace? What happened to him?" I asked, looking at the pale, mint-haired boy that I had entrusted with guarding Alice.

Dan informed me, "Alice scratched him on accident, and it passed the virus on over to him." I ran a hand through my soaked hair and told them, "Well, don't waste anymore time. Give them the serum." I didn't want to see these two suffering anymore.

Murucho nodded and stuck the needle into Ace's arm, and I saw the Vestal flinch for a moment as the syringe made contact. My attention then turned to Alice, and I felt my eyes widen. She looked worse than when I had left, and a pang of guilt struck me.

This was my fault. She was suffering because I couldn't protect her back when that monster was after us, and my carelessness was causing her pain. I reached down and took her frail hand in mine. It was warm with fever, but at the same time it was cold, almost dead.

This only made me feel worse. Dan placed his hand on my shoulder, causing me to flinch at the unexpected contact. "It's alright, buddy. She's about to get that serum and get better," he told me in a reassuring tone. Murucho reached into a soaked, cardboard box that they had placed on the conveyor belt, and retrieved a package with a syringe and vial of serum.

As he was prepping to give the medicine to Alice, Ace was beside her and starting recover. He groaned and sat up, looking around and taking in his new surroundings. He then looked down at his wrist, where I assumed his infection had started, and his eyes lit up.

"It's gone. The scratches are gone," he said in a surprised tone. Julie nodded and told him, "It's all thanks to the serum." Ace stared at her, then his eyes shifted towards me. "Shun! I'm sorry that-" I cut him off mid-sentence and said with a sad smile, "No need to apologize for anything, Ace. Everything is about to be set right."

His mouth, which had still be open from when I cut him off, closed. He then gave me a nod of understanding. Back over at where Alice was, Murucho had just finished giving her the serum. As we waiting for the effects to start taking hold, I noticed that there was an extra person in the group.

"Who are you?" I asked, my voice a bit hostile. Dan stood beside the stranger and told me, "This is Jackson. He's the reason that we found the serums." I felt my hostility towards the stranger let up now that I knew that it was all owed to him for saving Ace and Alice. "In that case, thanks," I said with a genuine smile.

Julie, who had been by Alice's side and waiting for the orange-haired girl to wake up, suddenly said, "Uh, guys. I don't think it's working." With that being said, we all hurried over to the silver-haired girl and placed our attention on Alice. Sure enough, through the red strobes, I could see the black discoloration spreading, rather than going away like it should have been.

"What's happening?" I asked frantically. This shouldn't have been happening. The serum should have been helping her. Alice let out a moan, and a thin line of blood started to run down from the corner of her mouth. I ran a hand through my hair.

The elation I had felt knowing that she would be alright, suddenly went away, causing me to plummet back down to reality. Behind me, I heard that Jackson guy said flatly, "It may be because she was infected by a Lucifer. They were nothing but a mutation of the virus. Perhaps the serum isn't capable of combating this version."

I slammed my hands on the conveyor belt and snapped, "Your telling me that there's nothing we can do for her!" I was about to lunge at Jackson, seeing as he was the only person that I could take my anger out on, but I was stopped when Dan and Murucho held me back.

"Shun! Calm down!" Dan shouted at me. Jackson had taken several steps back and said nervously, "I'm sorry. The thought of this didn't cross my mind while I was taking them to the serums." I narrowed my eyes at him, still feeling like he somehow knew this all along, that he knew that Alice was a lost cause from the moment he promised them help.

Dan and Murucho, seeing that I was no longer struggling against them, slowly took their hands off of my shoulders and let me go. When I didn't lunge at Jackson again, I saw them relax a bit. I turned and returned back to Alice's side. It seemed like the blackness was spreading faster now, or maybe it was just a creation thought up by my mind.

I was watching as her chest would slowly rise and fall, but after one fall, it didn't rise again. I felt my eyes widen, and I slowly touched her neck with a shaking hand. There was no pulse. No warmth. No sign of life.

Tears started to roll down my cheeks, and I hung my head. Then, the sadness was replaced with anger, and I quickly untied the sword from my belt loop. I turned on my heel and pointed the tip of the blade right between Jackson's eyes. His face turned pale, and his eyes were wide with fear.

"You've got to know something! There's got to be something that will help her!" I shouted through tears. Jackson tried to step back, but lost his balance and fell into the water, which reached up to his shoulders. "He doesn't know anything, 388," a voice boomed over what sounded like a loud-speaker.

The florescent lights then came back on in a blinding flash, revealing that the water we were standing in a blood red. Now, I could see bodies beneath the water, torn and shredded to pieces. It was a sea of death. Although the lights were back on, the sprinklers were still running, adding even more water to the rising level.

"Up here, 388," the voice said. I looked up and found Layfair looking down at us through the glass window of an observation room. He crossed his arms over his chest and said with fake sympathy, "Oh, I'm so sorry about your little friend down there. It was such a tragedy."

The grip I had on my sword tightened as my rage increased. I shouted, "I'll kill you!" My hatred for this man had never been stronger than it was right then. He had kill Alice, the very person that I had fought to stay alive for and protect. It was because of him that she was gone.

Layfair chuckled darkly into the microphone and said, "Oh, you will? I'd love to see that, 388. Why don't you show me how you will kill me?" At the top of a tall staircase, a door clicked open, allowing access into the room that Layfair was in.

The madman stood up there, gazing down at us with the same twisted smile as he waited. I glared coldly up at Layfair, and while never taking my eye contact away, I told the others behind me, "Keep injecting her with the serum….Maybe more of it will help her somehow."

I was clinging onto that hope that maybe there was a large amount of the virus in her, too much that even the serum couldn't combat it in one dose. I then put all of my focus into one thing, which was putting an end to Layfair once and for all, and darted for the staircase that led up to his lair.

Once inside the observation room, the door slammed shut behind me, locking in place and leaving me no other way of escape. Layfair, still wearing his evil grin, stared at me intensely with cold eyes. He then began to laugh and said, "It still amuses me how you think you can kill me, but I'm sure you'll put up a hell of a fight until I get bored of toying with you."

He then dug into his pocket and pulled out a vial of purple liquid. "You see this, 388? This is a special serum that I worked on behind the scenes. It's what you need to help your little friend down there." My eyes widened when I realized what importance this vial held to me.

Layfair smiled and said darkly, "Yes, this is the serum that will combat the mutated virus of the Lucifers, but there's one little problem. You have to get through me to get it." He then pulled a gun and shot the window to the observation room. Glass exploded outwards with the force of the bullet, and Layfair then tossed the vial out of the hole that was created.

The special serum fell down into the water below, and I could just see it sinking down to the bottom of the sea of death. Layfair clapped his hands together and said, "Now that _that _distraction is out of the way, let's get down to business."

* * *

sorry for not updating this week. our modem, which gives us internet, crashed on us and we had to order a new one. and after a bit of time this morning, i was able to get it set up and all that good stuff. so, things should be returning back to normal for the most part. also, i **checked my poll and there is a major tie between two stories** (you people love making ties, dont you?). other than that, i'm happy to see the number of people who have participated in the poll, but i would like the tie broken. **so please vote**! read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	34. A Living Hell

_Shun_

Here I was, faced with the very man who had caused the world to fall into turmoil, and the one who had taken the last thing that I held dear to me; Alice. I had made a promise quite some time ago, that Layfair would suffer to no end if I ever got the chance to face him.

Now, my chance was before me, and I wasn't about to let it slip through my fingers. I tightened my grip on the handle of my sword, and my eyes narrowed at Layfair. He crossed his arms over his chest and said nonchalantly, "Does this fight seem fair? I mean, you have a weapon, and what do I have? Nothing. Oh, well. I guess I'll just have to hold my own."

I growled. It irked me how he treated this like some kind of sick game, one without a care in the world, when everything was on the line for me and the others. I glanced over at the observation window. The others were down there, waiting for me to come back and tell them that this monster was no more.

There was no way I was about to let them down. I tore my gaze from the window and lunged at Layfair, starting our fight in the process. The blade was about to make contact right in the middle of his skull, but I felt the arc of my swing abruptly stopped.

When I glanced up, I saw that Layfair was holding the blade in his hand, the sharpened steel digging into his palm and drawing blood, but it didn't even seem to bother him. His cold eyes were locked on me, creating somewhat of an intimation factor for me.

Perhaps I had jumped into this fight too soon, and should have thought my movements out a bit more, for it slipped my mind of what kind of monster Layfair was. I tried to free the sword from his hand, but his grip was tighter. The blade dug deeper into his hand to the point that I thought it would cut it in half.

He then pulled back at the blade, causing me to stumble towards him. Layfair then brought his knee up into my stomach, knocking the wind out of me and causing me to release my hold on the sword. He tossed the weapon to the other side of the room, then turned around and punched me in the side of my head.

I dropped down to the floor, pain radiating from where his fist came in contact with my skull. "Now, the playing field is a bit more even," he mused. I struggled to sit up and hissed, "Hardly." The madman narrowed his eyes and me, then kicked me repeatedly in my stomach and chest, as if I was nothing more than an animal.

When he stopped, I clutched my sides, taking in sharp gasps as the pain pulsed. "Pathetic, 388," Layfair said coldly. "After all that odds you've beaten here and back on Earth, I expected a bit more of a fight out of you. Then again, even I can be wrong."

My vision was trying to turn black around the edges, but I quickly shook it off; I couldn't let Layfair win. I forced myself up to my feet, and could feel my body starting to heal itself, thanks to the serum that I had been injected with.

Even though I was healing, the pain was still there, and probably would be for a while. "Alright," I said hoarsely. "You want a fair fight, you'll get one." I lunged at him again, and swung a fist up to hit him in his face. But just like the sword, the attack was stopped before I could make any form of contact.

Layfair had caught my fist with the same hand that he had caught the blade of the sword with; there wasn't even so much as a scratch on it. He then tightened his grip on my hand, causing me to cry out. Unable to stand the pain, I ended up dropping to my knees, completely at Layfair's mercy as he crushed my hand.

"The serum allows you to heal, but nowhere nearly as fast as I. And there's also the fact, the you can still feel pain. Those, are your weaknesses, 388," Layfair said, completely void of any kind of human emotion. He brought his leg around and caught me in my slowly healing ribs, and knocked me to the side, my battered body sliding across the tile floor.

I laid there, gasping as I tried to regulate my breathing. How was I being beaten so easily? I knew Layfair had an advantage thanks to the serum, but I still should have been able to do something, to hurt him in some way. He was stronger than me though, and it had to have been cause of the serum.

I knew good and well that I wasn't that weak. _This really is anything but a fair fight, _I thought harshly. A hand then wrapped tightly around my throat, and I felt my body being lifted off the tiled floor. I was able to advert my gaze down some, and I saw that Layfair had commandeered the sword he took from me.

He examined it for a moment, then shot a cold look up at me. I then felt the cold steel cut into my side, and I screamed out in agony as the blade was pulled out. Layfair then let go of my throat, and I collapsed back onto the floor, whimpering in pain.

He knelt down beside me and said calmly, "You see, it's not like I can kill you unless I totally obliterate you, but I can make you suffer until I get bored." My vision had blurred, and I knew that there would be no shaking this off. Through the fog, I saw as my blood was spilling out around me and onto the white tiles.

I had thought Layfair to be twisted, but not to this point. Since he couldn't kill me, he was going to do the next best thing, and have me suffer endlessly. Even if I was able to get an upper hand and do the same thing to Layfair, it wouldn't work.

He healed too quickly, and he could no longer feel pain; all he would do would be laugh at me, or carry on a conversation. I then felt the blade of the sword grazing over my back, leaving behind little gashes and cuts. Gritting my teeth, I tried to force myself through the pain, but I was struggling to do even that.

Layfair stuck the sword through the same wound he had made in my side, reopening the flesh that was starting to heal. I screamed, tears rolling down my face from the pain. The madman pulled the sword out again, then knelt down before me.

He forced me to look up at him, and a shiver shot through me when I saw his cold and ruthless gaze. He said darkly, "I'm going to make you wish you had died."

_Dan_

We were sitting up on the conveyor belt, totally silent. Ace, thanks to the serum, had fully recovered. Alice, on the other, had not been so fortunate. I found myself glancing over at the orange-haired girl. Her body was motionless as she laid on the conveyor belt beside me, her skin lifeless and ashen.

It would only be a matter of time now. Then, she would come back as something that wasn't Alice. She would come back as some mindless monster. Although, the only one of our group that had to worry about her attacking them, was Jackson, for he was the only one without the serum in his system.

The water level in the loading dock was starting to rise higher and higher, even to the point that it was about to flood over the conveyor belt. Soon, our little island of refuge would be engulfed by the sea of death that was below us. I found myself no longer looking at the lifeless form of Alice, but rather at the water in front of me.

Since the power had returned, the lights came on as well. Now, we could see what floated in the water; blood and dead bodies. It was a sickening site, and even worse to know that we had been in it. I had wished the lights would go back out, so that way none of us had to look at the horrendous contents of the water.

Tearing my gaze away from the lost lives below us, I found myself looking up at the observation room. Shun had gone up there to confront Layfair, and I wondered how he was holding up. I recalled the order that Shun had given us before going up there; it was to keep injecting Alice with the serums.

I could see why he wanted us to do that. Perhaps there was too much virus for the one serum to combat, and more would help. But we had injected Alice's lifeless body with numerous doses, and to no prevail. It was clear that the only thing that would bring her back, was going to be the virus that killed her.

Water finally reached up and caressed the conveyor belt. I found myself asking, "Will those sprinklers ever cut off?" Further down the belt, Jackson shook his head. "No. It's a feature Layfair designed in the lab. If a fire or anything like that were to break out, the sprinklers would flood the lab as means to kill everyone inside and keep the virus contained in one location.

This place will fill to the brim before they cut off," he said flatly. And yet, Layfair had found another way to kill his loyal subjects, a more brutal way than drowning them; having monsters eat them alive. Beside me, I caught a glimpse of Alice's fingers twitching.

What would we do with her? She was of no threat to us, but I felt that it wouldn't be right to let her become one of those flesh-eating monsters; even she wouldn't want that. But I knew that Shun would want to try everything in his power to get her back, and even if he knew that there was nothing that could be done, he would still most likely continue to try.

An agonizing scream tore me from my thoughts, and all of our eyes darted up towards the observation room. "That was Shun," Murucho gasped. I heard my friend cry out several more times, each one sounding more pain-filled than the last. _It doesn't sound like things are going well up there. _

Jackson then bolted off of the conveyor belt, jumping into the nearly shoulder high water below, and started towards the staircase. "Jackson! What are you doing?" Runo shouted to him. The ex-assistant of Layfair's was now running up the stairs and towards the observation room.

"I'm going to go and help!" he shouted back to us. I was about to tell him to get back here, but my words caught right at my lips. Climbing out from the industrial sized air vents, were three Lucifers. They lashes their spiked tongues out and began to sniff at the air.

Their blind gazes then fell on us below, and the three monsters started scaling down the walls, their claws digging in so they wouldn't fall into the water below. This wasn't good. Ace quickly stood up on the conveyor belt, his hatchet, which I had returned back to him, at the ready.

I reached down and grabbed the crowbar that Alice had with her before she was infected. The three Lucifers let out their animal-like roars, and leaped from the wall across the room, landing square on the conveyor belt with us. The machinery rattled from the force of their landing.

One was on the side where Ace was, and two were on my side. I recalled our first encounter with the Lucifers. It had been in the electrical room, and we had had a tough time taking one out; three might as well been impossible.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of Jackson. He was typing on the keypad when the door to the observation room unlocked. He then vanished inside, the steel door closing behind him. But Jackson was the least of our problems.

* * *

ugh. i dont want to go back to school tomorrow (i had been so happy for the weekend). -.-'' and now it's nearly over with. **check out my poll if you havent done so yet (it concerns which story i should start on next)**. read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	35. Transformation

_Dan_

If there had only been one of these monsters, then perhaps it would have been easier to take them out. But no, there were three that we had to worry about. On top of that, there was the rising water levels that would soon reach the point of leaving us no choice but to swim out into the sea of death. I glanced over my shoulder and told Murucho and the girls, "You guys need to get away from here! Now!"

They nodded, Julie and Runo picking up Alice's body, and jumped off of the conveyor belt and into the rising water; it was past their shoulders now. Now, Ace and I stood back to back, one Lucifer on his side, and two on mine. "Scared?" Ace asked me, trying to sound like his usual arrogant self, but I could detect the faint fear in his voice.

I chuckled and said, "I should be asking you the same thing." But past all the lightheartedness, I knew we were both terrified. These monsters could rip us to shreds, or even kill us, as impossible as that seemed now. Suddenly, the Lucifers lunged at us, and as if Ace and I were on the same page, we ducked down, causing the beasts to collide with each other.

We quickly crawled out from under them to get away. The three Lucifers snapped and growled at each other, obviously angry that the other had gotten in the way. They then returned to their senses, and began to sniff the air for mine and Ace's scent.

It didn't take them more than a few seconds to locate us again. The three beasts started to stalk towards us, teeth bared and menacing growls escaping their throats. Past the Lucifers, I saw that the others had found some higher ground; the top of a large, military grade convey.

The water was about three feet from reaching where they were at, giving them a moment of peace before the levels rose anymore. My attention was taken away from the others when I realized a large, clawed hand was heading for me. I dodged it just in time, earning me an annoyed growl from one of the Lucifers.

Ace, who was holding his own against one of the beasts, kept repeatedly swinging the hatchet into the body and skull of the Lucifer, but the damage was not enough to take the monster down. We would need something stronger.

I recalled back in the electrical room when we shocked a Lucifer to death, but I highly doubted that we would be able to repeat that here. And as long as these three creatures kept at us, neither Ace nor myself would be able to help the other out.

I was still faced with two of the three Lucifers, and one shot his spiky tongue out at me. Reacting quickly, I brought the crowbar up to block the attack, and the tongue wrapped around the piece of steel. The beast snarled and retracted its tongue, pulling me towards its mouth.

I was pulled along the conveyor belt, the track burning some of the exposed parts of my skin; at the time, it didn't occur to me that it may have been a good idea to let go of the crowbar. Instead, I held on tightly, brought right up to the face of the Lucifer.

It lowered its head down, breathing its foul breath onto me, nearly causing me to gag. An idea then popped into my mind, just as the Lucifer drew its head back to attack me. I forced the crowbar to turn, which wasn't easy since the beast still had its tongue latched onto the steel, and let the sightless monster ram its head into the metal bar.

It shrieked and jumped back, flailing its impaled head about in futile attempts to rid its skull of the object that was causing it pain. Blood was starting to drip from the end of the crowbar, and I watched as the flow increased. Soon, the Lucifer lost enough of its blood, that it collapsed, either from blood-loss or from damage done to its brain.

Regardless, it was one less of the things that we had to deal with. Beside the Lucifer I just killed, its partner stood there next to the dead corpse, looking down at the motionless body with its sightless gaze. It then lowered its head down and sniffed the dead body of its fallen comrade, and let out a shriek as it realized its brother was no longer alive.

Slowly, it turned and faced me, teeth bared in a snarl as it continued to connect two and two. I found myself in quite a predicament now; my only weapon was still lodged in the skull of a dead Lucifer, which was blocked by yet another of the beasts.

There was no way I would get access to it. The Lucifer then began to charge at me, running along the conveyor belt like an out of control train. Immobilized by fear, I found myself frozen where I stood. There was nothing I could do. Running was out of the question, for there was nowhere to run to.

And fighting was the same way. Suddenly, a flash of mint-green hair shot past me, and I watched as Ace dropped down like the baseball players do when going for a base, and slid beneath the Lucifer, using the hatchet to sever the monster's legs.

The limbless beast dropped onto the belt, shrieking out in agony as its blood mixed into the diluted red water around us. I then began to wonder about the Lucifer that Ace had been fighting, and I glanced over my shoulder, only to find it lying dead on the conveyor belt, chunks of flesh and bone chopped out of its skull.

Ace then jumped back up to his feet, and ran up behind the amputated Lucifer. He then lifted the hatchet up and brought it down upon the neck of the beast, severing its head. Ace stood over the carcass, panting heavily, then removed the hatchet from the body.

"Thanks," I told him, surprised by how shaky my voice was. He gave me a nod, then walked over to the Lucifer I killed, and removed the crowbar from its skull, tossing it back to me. I caught the piece of steel, which almost slipped through my hand thanks to the thick layer of blood that caked every inch of it.

I then remembered the others, and found that they were still gathered up on top of the convoy. "Are you all okay?" I shouted to them. Julie, Runo, and Murucho gave me a thumbs up in order to answer my question from the great distance that now separated us.

Ace shouted to them, "Just hang on tight! Dan and I will be over there as quick as possible!" The mint-haired boy then jumped off of the conveyor belt and into the water. He surfaced soon after his dive and began to swim towards the convoy. I copied him, following shortly behind.

When we reached the massive military vehicle, Runo, Julie, and Murucho had to help pull us up and out of the water. Once on top of the convoy, I looked back out into the flooded loading dock. The boxes of serum were still floating along the surface, but I could see even they were becoming waterlogged, and would most likely lie at the bottom of the loading dock in a matter of time.

Behind me, I heard Runo say softly, "No…" When I turned to see what she was going on, I saw what she was talking about. Alice's eyes had opened, revealing orbs of glazed over white, rather than chocolate brown. Her skin was ashen, almost blue in a sense.

She then sat up slowly, and began to look around, unaware as to where she was, or even what she was. A hollow feeling formed in my chest when I saw her like this, and I could only begin to imagine what Shun would do when he saw that she had come back as a zombie.

I shook the thoughts away and said, "We need to keep her near us. We can't afford her wandering off. Not now, at least." Runo and Julie nodded, saddened expressions on their faces. The two girls then placed their hands on Alice's shoulders, and our once-lively friend looked at both of them, a blank look in her eyes.

I found myself filled with a sudden anger, and I punched the roof of the convoy, leaving a dent behind. Why did this have to happen now? Why did it have to be Alice? She didn't deserve this kind of fate. In fact, nobody deserved that fate. My eyes shot back up to the observatory, and I was silently hoping that Shun was winning.

_Shun_

So far, Layfair was keeping his promise that I would end up wishing I was dead. The pain I was in was excruciating as he repeatedly kicked me and stabbed me with the blade of my own sword. "Get up, 388," he demanding. Fearing what he would do if I did not, I forced myself up as far as I could, which was only to my hands and knees.

I then felt the toe of his shoe ram into my side, causing me to fall back down into my bloody heap. I cringed, feeling the bones that were almost healed, break again. "Stop….Just stop," I wheezed. This was humiliating, and I was very much relieved that none of the others were able to see me in my moment of shame.

Suddenly, the door of the observation room flew open, and Jackson came walking in, a look of hate on his face. He then caught sight of me, and I could see the flash of shock run through them, but quickly vanish; he knew this wouldn't kill me, but it had most likely taken him a second to remind himself of that.

Layfair tossed my sword down, the metal blade clanking on the floor as it fell next to me. Sadly, I was much too weak at the moment to even think about using it. Layfair looked a Jackson, a mischievous grin on his face. "Why, I thought you'd be dead by now," he said in a surprised tone.

Jackson shook his head and told him, "As you can see, I'm fully alive." Layfair then began to walk around Jackson, as if stalking him like prey. "What'd you do? Find the serum and inject yourself with it? Is that how you're standing here now?" he asked suspiciously. What was Layfair getting at?

Was he curious as to whether or not he could kill Jackson? The ex-assistant shook his head and told the madman before him, "No. I have taken no serum. It's because of those people down there that I'm still alive." Layfair let out a short laugh, which was followed by a wicked grin crossing his face.

"How sweet of them to do that for you," he hissed. Layfair then narrowed his eyes and asked, "Why turn on me, Jackson? I could give you your life back, while these poor fools will only cause you to remain trapped in this lab and die. Now, which sounds better to you?"

While there conversation was taking place, I was trying my best to sit up. It was a tedious process, but I was eventually able to get to the point of where I could prop myself up against the wall. Jackson retorted, "There's nothing for you to offer me, Layfair. All of that went out of the window when you turned against us. Now, I'm just getting payback for all of the people you've killed to get to where you're at now."

At that moment, I saw how I had been before Layfair beat me down to a pulp; confident and fueled by my want for revenge. But as it was now, that hadn't been the two best things to come in here on. Hopefully, Jackson would realize that by looking at me, and either turn and run, or come up with a new plan.

Layfair chuckled darkly and told Jackson, "What a pity. I was actually kind of planning on keeping you alive, but couldn't locate you when I released the zombies and Lucifers, but now, you can forget that. It's a shame to. You were rather a good scientist."

Before I was able to blink, Layfair pulled out the pistol that he had used to shoot a hole in the observation window, and had it pointed at Jackson. I saw as his finger began to tighten on the trigger, and as Jackson's eyes grew wide when he realized what was about to happen to him.

I then reacted, and lunged for my sword, using the momentum of my lunge to swing the blade into Layfair's legs, severing them both. Thanks to the time Jackson had spent talking to the madman, the serum was given enough time to allow me to heal to the point of being able to stand.

Layfair collapsed onto the ground, a shot firing into the room. I then heard Jackson cry out, and I saw that the bullet had grazed his arm. He held on tightly to the wound, blood seeping out and dripping onto the floor, mixing with mine and Layfair's. I ran up to him and looked at the bullet hole.

"It looks like nothing but a flesh wound. You should be fine," I told him quickly. He nodded, then cringed and dropped to his knees in clear pain. Behind me, I heard Layfair chuckling darkly. His legs had already regenerated, and he was now standing in the very spot where I had cut him down.

"Might want to step away from him, 388. He isn't going to be on your side for much longer," he said coldly. Confused, I looked down at Jackson. His skin appeared to be crawling, as if something was running around beneath his flesh. He then screamed in pain and continued to clutch the bullet wound.

"What did you do?" I asked curtly. Layfair reached for the pistol, and popped out one of the bullets. It was unlike any kind of ammunition I had seen before. The bullet had a normal shell casing, but the point was translucent, and a green liquid appeared to be inside.

Layfair smiled evilly and said, "This right here, is a special bullet. Inside of this, is the mutated virus that created the Lucifers. All it took was the slightest contact with your friend there to break the glass containing the virus to infect him. It will only be a matter of time now."

My eyes widened, and I turned back to Jackson. He had passed out and was laying on the floor, but his skin still moved. I then took several steps back as I watched him be transformed into a monster.

* * *

tomorrow will be **the last update until about Sunday** (if i upload tomorrow, that is). i won't be able to wednesday because i have to start packing and got to go to a chiropractor appointment, and then thursday, friday, and saturday i'm going to be seriously out of town for a band clinic. **check out my profile for the poll**, and i also have **_new covers and youtube links to the songs that some of my stories are based off of posted on my profile._** check em out (they might help you decide on which story to pick in my poll if you havent done so yet). read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	36. Downfall

_Shun_

It was horrible to watch as Jackson's body convulsed from the mutated virus. Layfair had infected him with the virus through means of a specially designed gun, and I had thought that the bullet wound was just that; a bullet wound.

But it was wasn't till I saw Jackson's skin begin to crawl, and that Layfair explained to me what was going on, did I learn of what was truly happening. What was really troubling, was the fact that it was only Layfair and I trapped in this observatory room, and I knew once Jackson's hellish transformation was complete, he would no longer be my ally, and turn on me, only knowing that his purpose in life was to kill.

In my opinion, it was worse to become one of the Lucifers than a zombie, due to the fact that while you're a zombie, eating was only a mindless instinct, which was the one thing that remained in your brain after the virus destroyed everything else in it.

But the Lucifer virus was a whole different story. It turned into something that killed just for the sake of killing, not survival. It was sick. Jackson screamed out, burying his face into the tiled floor that was now soaked with the blood of three different people.

By this time, the wounds that Layfair had inflicted upon me had fully healed with much thanks to the serum, but I knew they would be reopened the moment Jackson turned into a monster and attacked. A thought then came to my mind, and I tightened my grip on the sword's handle.

I was about to bring the blade down on Jackson, thinking that killing him before he could turn would stop the virus. But just as I was about to try and end his life, Jackson ended up rolling over on his back, allowing me to see his face. The expression of pain and fear caused me to freeze in place.

It begged for an end to come to his suffering, but for some reason, I couldn't bring myself to move now. I was paralyzed by the sight of Jackson and his current condition. He arched his back up off of the floor as a new wave of pain hit him, and he let out another blood-curdling scream of agony.

The room was then filled with the sounds of bones cracking, and I watched in horror as the virus forced Jackson into the form of a monster. I took a step or two back, still staring at the suffering man with wide eyes. Behind me, Layfair was chuckling darkly.

"What's the matter, 388? Too much gore for you to handle?" he asked with a cackle. The veins in Jackson's neck were protruding out from the pressure that was being placed on his body. "You're sick," I hissed at Layfair. He ran a hand through his white and graying hair, and just grinned.

"I think of myself as a revolutionary. This could change everything forever," he said, as if the virus was something to be proud of. Jackson's screams had started to cease, but I could hear low whimpers coming from him. He wasn't going to last much longer.

My time was running out; I knew when Jackson turned, this fight would get even more difficult with Layfair and a newly-made Lucifer in the mix. I had to hurry up and get out of here, and the only way to do that was to kill Layfair, and quickly.

Although, it was clear as day that it wasn't going to be easy to kill him. So, my only other option was to leave the madman behind and try to get out of this room before the monster within Jackson came to. I hated to think that I was allowing this freak to get away once again, but the odds were stacked against me.

If I stayed here, I would surely never see the walls beyond this observation room. I charged at Layfair, blade ready to strike. He ducked to the side, the sword catching his arm, but he ignored the gash that had nearly severed the appendage again.

He then worked his way to my side, and ended up throwing me to ground. I landed next to Jackson, and when I did, I heard him draw his last breath as the last of his transformation was completed. Standing where the ex-assistant of Layfair had been, was now the grotesque monster of the madman's creation.

Its mouth was drawn back in a snarl, and a low, menacing growl reverberated from the beast. I stepped back, and could feel Layfair's twisted smile on me. "Well, I think you're about to have your hands a bit full, 388," he mused. The Lucifer sniffed the air, then locked its eyeless face on me.

The snarl on its face grew even wider as it lunged at me. I dodged the attack, but since the room was so small, the Lucifer was able to recover quickly and resume the chase with ease. With each dodge, the beast would skid a bit as he tried to slow down his momentum and halt.

The walls and observation equipment started to take on damage as the body of the Lucifer slammed into them. I stood in the center of the small room and watched as the monster turned around and faced me again. The beast let out a roar and readied itself to attack.

I was starting to grow tired, which meant that eventually the Lucifer would get its claws on me. I didn't want to imagine the agony that would ensue after that. Standing off to the side, was Layfair. His arms were crossed over his shoulders, and a smug smile was on his face.

He had nothing to worry about. He had made sure the Lucifers knew his scent, which was one they were not to attack. Layfair was just standing by and enjoying the show. The beast attacked once more, but this time in its rampage, it accidentally knocked Layfair over.

The madman landed on the floor, where he was covered in the blood that belonged to me and Jackson. "Watch where you're going you stupid beast!" the madman shouted as he stood up. His white lab coat was crimson red now, and the ends dripped in blood.

The Lucifer halted, then lifted its head up and began to sniff the air. Slowly, it turned its head towards Layfair, and crouched down into an attack position. Layfair stood there for a moment, confusion on his face. "What the hell are you doing?" he asked the Lucifer.

"Go on. Finish him." But the monster never tore its sightless gaze from the madmen. Something then clicked for Layfair, and he glanced down at his blood-soaked skin and clothes. His scent was masked. To the Lucifer, he was no longer Layfair, the one he was supposed to leave alone.

Now, we was nothing more than somebody else. The madman's eyes widened as he realized this. "It's me, you idiot!" he shouted, but it was of no use. The Lucifer only knew Layfair's scent, and now, that was gone and hidden beneath a mask of blood. I could see a hint of fear in the madman's eyes.

Now that I knew that I was no longer the target of the beast, I relaxed a bit. The tables were turned now. Rather than me running and Layfair watching, it was the other way around now. Although, I didn't wear his twisted grin; my expression was blank. If this was how Layfair went down, I didn't care.

So what if it wasn't by my own hands? The fact that it may have been by the teeth of one of his very creations, made up for that. The Lucifer lashed out its spiked tongue, and Layfair tried to dodge to the side to get away, but was not fast enough.

The spiked appendage shot right through Layfair's abdomen, pinning him against the wall behind him. A thin line of blood trickled down the side of his mouth, but I knew it would probably take a bit more to kill him. The monster that used to be Jackson, charged at the pinned Layfair and slashed his claws into the legs of its creator, severing them.

Layfair cried out, and I thought I saw pain flash through his eyes. As he stayed there, pinned against the wall and legless, I realized that he was not healing. It then occurred to me, that he had never injected himself with the serum that combated the Lucifer's virus.

He only had that which fought the infection given by the zombies. Layfair most likely felt that since he was indestructible, and that his scent would not be tracked by the Lucifers, that he didn't need the additional serum. His arrogance was now becoming his downfall.

The Lucifer buried its teeth into Layfair's shoulder, taking out a massive chunk of flesh. The madman screamed, tears starting to streak down his face as he felt a pain that he was supposedly unable to feel. Blood oozed from the Lucifer's mouth, along with drool as it enjoyed the taste of its creator.

In a way, I felt that this was Jackson's doings though. That somehow, he had regained some kind of consciousness in this monstrous state, and remembered who Layfair was, and what the man had done. Now, he was getting the revenge he wanted.

The Lucifer pulled its spiked tongue from Layfair's abdomen, causing the man to fall to the ground. Blood still poured from where his legs had been severed, and from where his arm was nearly torn off. There were still no signs of him healing yet, and this provided the proof that I needed to believe that the Lucifer's virus was the one thing that would do him in.

Just like the regular serum didn't work on Alice, it wasn't working on him. I then felt a hollow feeling form inside, and the threat of tears lingered. Now, I thought of Layfair's fate as even more fitting. Not only was he being killed by something he created, but he was also suffering at the hands of the very thing that took Alice away from me. He deserved what was happening to him.

The Lucifer then turned its head and looked back at me. Its snarl returned and its slowly stalked towards me. I had to remind myself that this monster would still kill me; it had taken no sides in this fight. I lifted the blade of my sword up, and when the monster charged at me, I met it halfway, and brought the blade down on the back of its neck.

It didn't sever the head from the monster's shoulders, but it was enough to kill the beast. It dropped dead on the floor, and I stood over it. As I looked down at it, I was unable to try and picture this thing as Jackson, or anything else, for that fact. Maybe somehow Jackson somehow did manage to regain consciousness, but I kind of doubted it.

All of this had been nothing more than a stroke of luck. Regardless, I was grateful for what happened. On the other side of the room, I heard the whines and moans of Layfair. He was laying there, blood still gushing out. Around the edges of the wounds that were inflicted upon him by the Lucifer, was beginning to turn black.

Infection was going to kill him. I stood over him, his glazed over eyes looking up at me. I told him coldly, "You know, when you turn into one of those zombies, I should just let you stay like that. Let you live out all of eternity as one of those mindless things. But lucky for you, I'm not that cold-hearted."

A spurt of blood shot out of his mouth, and his body went still. I walked over to the observation equipment and leaned against it as I waited for him to come back as a zombie. As I sat there, I looked at the room that now doubled as our battlefield.

Blood stained almost every inch of the once-white room. The corpses of Layfair's mangled body and the Lucifer laid haphazardly on the floor like a centerpiece. And against all odds, I was still standing somehow. A few more minutes passed, and I saw Layfair's body twitching.

His eyes opened, and I saw their milky, white color. Calmly, I walked over to him. His dead eyes looked up at me, and he made a noise. "You know, Layfair….This is pathetic….I expected a bit more from you," I said, mimicking how he had said that to me countless times.

I then rammed the end of the blade into his skull. The body jumped from the force, then went still. Forever. I stayed bent over for a moment, allowing the weight of it all to set in on me. He was really gone, never to come back and repeat any of this. But during all that time, he had achieved to turn us all back into monsters in one way, shape, or form.

In the end, even though Layfair was gone, his fingerprint would remain on our lives for a very long time. I let got of the sword's handle, and left it stuck in Layfair's skull. Slowly, I walked away from the body and headed over towards the shattered observation room.

The water level had risen tremendously during the fight. I began to look around and found Dan and the others trapped on the roof of what looked like a vehicle of sorts. But the water was starting to run over their safe haven.

I then looked down to the water right below the observation window, and remember that Layfair had thrown the serum to the Lucifer virus down into the water. Realizing that I would probably be able to find it, I climbed up onto the control panel and finished knocking the remaining glass out of the window.

I then stood there, looking down at the red water. The thing that cold save Alice was there, and I would try everything in my power to find it.

* * *

yup! i'm back and Layfair is no more! -throws a party- **_check out my poll if you have not done so (there is STILL A TIE IN THE POLL) _**Read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	37. Bring Me To Life

_Dan_

The water level breached the roof of the convoy, and we knew that we would be in trouble from there on out. Beside me, Runo was holding onto Alice's arm as our deceased friend tried to get up and wander about. The orange-haired girl's eyes only gazed around blankly and with confusion.

I didn't know how much longer I, or the others, could stand to see Alice like this. It was clear that the serum didn't work on her, so why were we allowing her to continue to stay like this? Was it because of Shun? Did we want his input on what we should do with her? I wasn't sure.

Shun had to know that there wasn't anything we could do for her, but I had a feeling he would end up being irrational about this whole ordeal. It was true that if this had been anyone else but Alice, Shun would have handled it quite well.

But I knew for a fact all of the hardships that he had gone through to keep her safe all of these years, and those were going to make this all the more difficult for him. _Maybe we should just go ahead and put her down, _I thought grimly while looking at our zombiefied friend.

The others appeared to have gotten used to Alice being like she was now, but there was still the look of sadness and pure disbelief in their eyes. My gaze fell to Ace's hatchet. Alice would want us to end her suffering. She wouldn't want to be one of those monsters forever, even I knew that much.

The only problem was whether or not Shun could get through his pain and see that as well. He could end up still hanging onto the hope that the serum would work on her, when it was apparent that it was doing nothing for the poor girl.

"Guys," I said under my breath, readying myself to tell them that we had to put our friend down and out of her misery. As they turned to face me, and when I prepared to speak, a blood-curdling scream erupted and filled the loading dock. With that, my current thoughts became distracted as I began to wonder what was going on.

The screams continued, only getting louder and more agonizing. After a few minutes, we realized where the screams were coming from; the observation room where Shun and Layfair were.

A hollow feeling started to form in my stomach when I thought that the cries of pain belonged to our friend, but upon listening more closely, I realized that it was not Shun. It then occurred to me that Jackson had broken off from our group and gone up to the observation room.

With that thought, I had the feeling that those screams belonged to the ex-assistant of Layfair. "What's going on up there?" Julie asked nervously. I shook my head, wishing I had an answer to give her. The screams then began to die down, then cease altogether.

We all stood there in a still silence. Had Layfair killed Jackson? None of us had anyway of knowing since we weren't up there to see with our own eyes. The sounds of low growls and roars then began to spill out from the shattered window of the observation room.

I quickly identified what kind of creature made those sounds; a Lucifer. I tensed with the thought of one of those beasts being in that small room with Shun and Jackson. There was no way they could fight under those conditions.

From the roof of the convoy, I was able to see blood splatter on the white ceiling of the observation room, which was followed by more chilling screams. Julie placed her hands over her ears and began to shake her head. "I don't want to hear it anymore!" she shouted.

I was able to see more blood splatter portions of the walls and more of the ceiling. I hated to know what was going on it that room. Was the Lucifer in there ripping apart Shun or Jackson? I cringed at the thought of either one of them suffering at the claws and teeth of that beast.

From the room, I heard the Lucifer roar one last time, then things went completely silent, the only sound was that of the sprinklers filling the room with more water. The desire to know what happened up there was killing me. But my curiosity was quelled when I saw Shun climb up into the broken window of the observation room.

From what I could tell, he seemed to only have a couple of scratches on him, but he was in one piece nonetheless. I smiled a bit and was about to call out to him to let him know where we were at, but my words caught in my throat as I watched him dive down into the bloody water below.

_Shun_

I took a deep breath and plunged headfirst into the water. It was cold, but I quickly adjusted to the temperature drop. In the water, everything was difficult to see. The lights above the surface provided light for a few feet, but towards the bottom of the blood-red sea, everything appeared to be black.

All around me, boxes of serum floated around in the water and began to sink towards the bottom. I shook myself back into focus and reminded myself why I had jumped into this sea of death; to find the serum that would help bring Alice back.

I kicked my feet, propelling myself downwards through the water. I reached the point of where the light could no longer filter through the blood and water. Although, not everything was black; I could see in front of me just a bit. In order to tell when I hit the underwater floor, I kept my hand out in order to feel the submerged tiles.

My chest was starting to tighten as my lungs craved fresh air, but they would have to be deprived until I found the serum; that was my top priority at the moment. I finally hit the bottom and began to look around for the vial of purple liquid. I could make out the shapes of boxes of serum as I swam by, but that was about it.

My hands continued to feel around for whatever might have been a vial. The tips of my fingers then brushed over something, and when I felt to see what it was, I flinched back. It was a body. I could feel the ripped flesh and exposed bone.

I then reminded myself of all of the dead bodies that had littered the loading dock floor, and that I was now swimming in the same water as them. This left a sick feeling in my stomach, and human nature was screaming for me to get out of this water.

_But I can't. I have to find that serum, _I told myself sternly. My chest was now on fire, and it felt like my lungs were about to collapse in on themselves, but I pushed forward, regardless of what my body was telling me. A flash then got my attention out of the corner of my eye, and when I turned to face it, I also caught a glimpse of purple.

Not hesitating for a moment, I swam over towards what I had seen, and snatched it up. Sure enough, it was what I had been searching so desperately for. I tilted my head back and was able to see a tiny dot at the surface of the water where the light was filtering through.

Kicking my feet, I hurried towards the surface, vial clutched tightly in my hands; I wasn't about to lose it anytime soon. As I swam upwards, I began to realize that I was swimming past bodies floating through the water.

There had to be hundreds, maybe even thousands of the corpses drifting along. Seeing this only made me speed up more, and before I knew it, I broke through the surface of the water.

_Dan_

I stared in shock as Shun jumped into the water. "Shun!" I shouted just as he vanished beneath the crimson sea. I expected to see he emerge from the water right after he dove in, but he never did. _What does he think he's doing? Has he gone nuts? _I asked myself.

The others appeared to have the same thoughts as I did. What had provoked Shun to jump into the water? Was he trying to kill himself? If so, then it wouldn't work, the serum would make sure of that. Then why jump? As far as I knew, there was nothing below the water of any concern to us.

A few minutes passed, and there was no sign of Shun. I began to grow worried. What was delaying him? Could there possibly have been something down there that attacked him? Like another Lucifer? Just as my worries were reaching their peak, Shun broke the surface of the water, taking in several deep gasps for air.

"Shun!" I shouted, a flood of relief washing over me. His eyes locked onto us and our flooding convoy, and he began to swim towards us. When he reached the edge, Ace and I helped pull him onto the roof of the vehicle. "What the hell were you doing?" I asked him.

As he coughed some of the bloody water up, I noticed something clutched in his hands. "Shun? What's that?" I asked, pointing to the vial. His eyes looked down to the object, and he held it up to show us. It was a vial, much like that of the one the serum was in, but filled with purple liquid, rather than blue.

I raised an eyebrow in confusion. I said, "Alright, that doesn't tell me what it is though." Shun coughed up the last bit of the water and told us, "It's a serum Layfair developed in secrecy. It fights the Lucifer virus. This is what will save Alice." Suddenly, I could see why he jumped into the bloody water for that.

This vial was the most important thing we had come across so far. "Are you serious?" Murucho asked, staring at the vial like the marvel it was. Shun nodded and began to look around. "Yeah. Now, where's Alice so we can hurry up and give this to her," he said urgently. His scanning eyes then froze, and I knew he had found her when his face drained off all of its color.

"Alice," he said under his breath. She was behind me, Runo still holding onto her living, lifeless body to keep her from wandering off into the water around us. I told Shun, "We gave her no telling how many doses of serum, and as you can see, none of them did anything to slow the virus down. But now that we have that serum, it should bring her back."

Shun continued to stare in shock at Alice for a bit longer, then appeared to snap out of his disoriented state. "Yeah. You're right," he said in a somewhat rushed tone. This couldn't be an easy sight for him to stomach; it wasn't easy for any of us. Murucho took the vial from Shun, and removed the cap, revealing a syringe that was built into the vial.

The short blonde then walked over to Alice and told her gently, "It's going to be alright now, Alice. Just be patient." Our zombiefied friend only continued to look around the room in confusion. Murucho then stuck the needle into her arm, and the purple liquid drained from the vial and into Alice.

When I looked back at Shun, I could see the anxiety in his eyes. I was sure he was afraid that this serum might not work either, but the only thing we could do at the moment was wait.

_Shun_

When the needle attached to the vial went into Alice's arm, a hollow feeling quickly formed in my stomach; and it wasn't from the fact that I had jump into a sea of dead bodies and blood. It was due to the fear of this serum not working.

Layfair could have lied to me, telling me that this serum would cure Alice as a means to distract me during our fight. I didn't want this to be the case. I had gone through too much to have the only thing I had left leave me forever. I tried to sit by and watch for the moment Alice showed any signs of being cured, but I couldn't bring myself to see her like she was.

It reminded me too much of the nightmare I had sometime ago, where she was infected and came back as a zombie with no recollection of who she, or anybody else was. I felt a hand on my shoulder, and glanced back to see Dan. He was giving me a sad smile when he told me, "Quit worrying so much. She's going to be fine."

How could Dan stay so optimistic right now? I recalled saying that exact same thing when we found the serums and gave them to Ace and Alice, and look how that turned out. We discovered that the regular serum didn't work on those infected by the Lucifers.

Dan then sat down beside me and asked, "So, what all went on up there?" I assumed he was trying to keep my mind off of Alice, but he wasn't doing a very good job. Although, I did appreciate it. "And what about Jackson?" Dan asked as well. I cast my eyes down at the rolling waves in the bloody water.

"Layfair was winning for a while when Jackson showed up. If it hadn't been for him, then I'm sure that I would still be up there being tortured by that psychopath. But Jackson ended up getting infected with the Lucifer virus, and was turned into one."

Dan's eyes widened with hearing this news, but remained silent as I continued on with my story. "The Lucifer….Um…Jackson…Ended up trying to kill me, but accidentally knocked Layfair into the pool of blood that had gathered on the floor. And you remember how the Lucifers don't attack Layfair cause they know his scent?" Dan nodded and I continued.

"Well, the blood masked that, and Jackson turned on Layfair and infected him with that version of the virus." Dan held up his hand in order to signal me to stop for a moment. He then said, "Wait, how could that infect Layfair? I thought nothing could hurt him thanks to all of the doses of the serum he had in him."

I sighed and told Dan, "I was getting to that. You see, the Lucifer is a totally different virus, and just like how the other serum wouldn't work on Alice, it didn't work for him either. That was how he was infected. Plus, he must have seen no need in injecting himself with the serum for the Lucifer virus since they wouldn't attack him."

Dan nodded to show that he understood what I was saying. "So," he started. "It was his own doing that did him in." I nodded, recalling how I had left Layfair's lifeless corpse up in the observation room with the blade of my sword stuck in his skull.

I tilted my head back, allowing the sprinklers to throw water on my face as I gazed up at the florescent lights. It still hadn't set in that Layfair was really dead, and that this apocalypse was actually coming to an end. I then glanced back over at Alice.

She was laying on the roof of the convoy, rather than sitting and looking all around like she had been before. When I looked a bit closer, it appeared that her skin was more lively now, almost like it was getting color back. Then, her eyes flew open, and she took in a gasp of air.

* * *

_ chapter title based off the song Bring Me To Life by Evanescence._** check out the poll on my profile_._** i added another story that i actually came up with yesterday and it's one that has a pretty solid plot for the moment (**just in case the other stories didnt catch anyone's attention**). please check it out and vote if you have not. read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


	38. Life Goes On

_Alice_

It was like coming up for air after being underwater for a long time. My eyes were blinded by bright lights, and for a moment, I had no idea what was going on. My mind and body felt like it had been asleep for a while, but somehow, I didn't think that was the case.

The blinding light above me came into focus, and I realized that I was surrounded by Dan and the others. Slowly, I saw up, still disoriented and confused. Beside me, Julie and Runo had tears starting to form in their eyes. What was going? Why was everyone looking at me like this?

My eyes then found Shun. He was staring at me as well. His expression was a surprised one, but I thought I also detected a hint of relief flashing in his eyes. Before I was able to react, he wrapped his arms around me and embraced me in a hug.

I sat there, caught off guard and still confused by the way everyone was acting. Shun had tears streaking down his face. "Thank God," he said in an unsteady voice while still holding on tightly to me. Shun finally broke the hug and leaned back a bit, putting some space between us.

Tears were still flowing freely from his eyes, but he wore a slight smile, which told me that his tears were those of happiness. I asked sheepishly, "What's…Going on?" Murucho tilted his head to side and said in confusion, "You don't remember what happened to you?"

I shook my head, thinking that I had just been in some kind of weird slumber for while. Apparently, that wasn't the case. Ace spoke up and told me, "Do you remember when you, Shun, and I were being chased by a monster in the lab?" I thought for a moment, vaguely recalling the experience.

Closing my eyes, I tried to figure out what was the last thing I remembered. "It sounds familiar, but the last thing I can remember for certain was us getting ready to go into the lab," I told them honestly. Ace scratched the back of his neck and said awkwardly, "Well, we were chased, and the thing that was after us attacked you and caused you to become infected with the virus."

I blinked my eyes a couple of times. Everything that was being told to me sounded familiar, but I wasn't so sure. It was like the memory was there, but it was blocked behind a cloud of fog. Runo suddenly took my hand in hers and said, "You ended up dying and coming back as a zombie cause the serum wouldn't work on you. We were all so worried. But you're fine now, thanks to Shun."

I turned and looked to the raven-haired boy that was still kneeling in front of me. I didn't think he had taken his gaze off of me since I woke up; most likely due to fear that I would slip away again. Normally, hearing the news that I had died and come back as a horrible monster would be enough to freak most people out, but I had no reason to fret over it.

I was cured from that virus, and perfectly fine now; overreacting wouldn't do anything. So, I handled it calmly, and tried my best to keep myself in order as to not let this get to me. I suddenly remembered why we were in this lab. We were here to take down Layfair.

I asked, "And what about Layfair?" Dan opened his mouth to speak, but Shun cut him off before a single word could be said. "He's dead. I killed him, with a little help," he said solemnly. When he said that he had help to kill Layfair, I assumed he meant help from Dan or Ace; I didn't know at the time of the additional ally that we had recruited during the time.

Ace stood up and looked around the room. "Alright, I'm just as thrilled as the next guy that everyone is safe, but how do we get out of here? All of the doors and exits are flooded shut," he said flatly. Dan crossed his arms over his chest and said, "I don't know. The thought didn't cross my mind."

We all started to exchange glances at one another, as if somebody would have the answer. Shun then told us, "I'm sure Layfair wouldn't have stayed around in this lab if there was no other way out. He must have had an escape route." Shun then turned his gaze up at a room near the ceiling.

A large window had once been there, for shattered glass still clung onto their frame. "It's probably up there," Shun added, his eyes narrowed at the small room. Dan said, "Well, what are we waiting for then? I'm ready to get out of this place, once and for all."

Shun nodded and pointed over to a door that was near the window. The door was almost underneath the water now, and I could just make out the shape of stairs beneath the red surface. He said, "We have to get over there and get the door open. From there we should find an exit of some sorts."

We nodded, and I saw that Shun was about to jump into water, but Julie's voice stopped him. "Wait, what about all of the serums that are in here? There's enough to cure all of us Vestal. Isn't that another reason we came here? To get the serums?" she asked in a whining voice.

Shun looked down at the water that was surrounding us. "There's no way we'd be able to salvage all of these serums. If we had some more time and if the conditions were different, then perhaps. But not now," he said grimly. A flash of surprise shot through Ace's eyes.

"What? We're not going to at least try and grab a few serums for Mira, Baron, and Keith? Huh? What about them? I thought we were going to bring them back," he said, his voice filling with anger with each word spoken. Nobody said anything, and the only sound came from the sprinklers throwing water around.

Ace narrowed his eyes at Shun and said coldly, "I see how it is now. As long as what matters to you is safe, you could care less about the rest of us!" Shun shot a vicious glare towards Ace and said, "Shut your mouth! You know for a fact that isn't the case! I want to bring back all of our friends as much as you do, Ace, but the circumstances are not allowing this!"

Glares intensified between the two, and Murucho quickly jumped between them. "Guys! This really isn't the time for bickering! Listen, Ace, I should be able to replicate the serum if I can find the right equipment. It may take some time, but I'm sure I can recreate it," Murucho said quickly.

Ace backed up a bit, eyes still narrowed at Shun. He then said, "I see. If you're able to recreate it, that'd be great." Shun kept his glare locked on Ace for a second longer, then jumped into the bloody water below. He quickly swam over to the door to the little room, and stood on one of the steps that was submerged the least in water.

"Come on!" he shouted towards us. One by one, we all jumped into the water. I thought for a moment that I would be unable to swim through it without getting sick. The color of diluted blood was bad enough, but the smell of decay was the worst thing to deal with.

Soon, we all joined up in front of the door. Shun was typing codes in on the door's keypad, but nothing seemed to be working. "I can't unlock it," he said with frustration. Dan then stepped forward and said, "I remember Jackson's password from his identification card that I stole. It should work on this door as well."

Shun nodded and stepped aside so Dan could do his job. The brunette typed in four numbers, and the door clicked open. Inside the room was just as bad as back in the flooded loading dock. Blood covered every square inch of the room, and sitting in the middle was the corpse of some kind of beast.

When I looked closer, my memories of being chased by a monster returned to my mind. It had been this kind of creature that chased us and infected me. It laid there motionless and dead, blood pooling around its body and starting to dry.

The others stared at the monster with sadness in their eyes, almost like they felt sorry for the creature; I wouldn't realize until later that the creature had once been their ally. Past the body of the beast, was Layfair's corpse. Shun's sword was protruding out from the skull of the dead body.

Layfair really was dead. He was right there before our eyes as proof. No longer would this madman go and cause anyone pain ever again. "Over here," Dan said. The brunette stood beside an open door. "I think I found the exit." We ran towards the door and saw that door held a staircase on the other side.

The stairs ascended upwards to somewhere unknown. Without so much as a question, we started up the stairs and into the darkness that they brought with them. Soon, I saw light outlining another door. When we reached the top of the stairs, Dan pushed the door open, and we found ourselves standing on top of a roof.

_Alice_

A cool breeze flew by us on the roof. It smelled pure and clean; completely opposite from the smell back in the lab. Overall, the air was kind and inviting when coupled with the light blue sky, and for a moment, I forgot all of the horror and pain that we had endured recently.

Dan stretched his hands above his head and took in a deep breath. "It feels great to be out of there!" he said with a smile. I walked over to the edge of the roof and looked to the streets below. There were zombies lumbering about, completely unaware of us.

Seeing them reminded me that things still weren't back to normal yet. I then felt a hand grab onto mine, and I followed the arm up to see who it belonged to; it was Shun. He smiled slightly, and the look of relief and happiness had returned to his eyes.

I smiled and told him, "I guess I owe you my life, literally." He chuckled at my play on words, then told me, "You have no idea how glad I am that you're back and safe." I couldn't even begin to fathom what he had gone through when I had died and come back as one of the mindless monsters that were wandering about below us.

I walked up to Shun and wrapped my arms around him, then rested my head on his shoulders. Tears began to form in my eyes when I told him, "I'm so happy it's all over….I don't want to go through any of this ever again…." Shun returned my embrace and told me, "It won't happen again….."

He then put some space between us and looked at me with a grin plastered on his face. "And if it does, we'll make it through it a third time, like we always do." I found myself giggling at that, and I wiped the tears from my face. "You're right," I told him with a smile.

The sound of Murucho clearing his throat caused us to look at the short blonde. He told everyone, "I hate to break up the good times, but the sooner we find an appropriate lab and equipment, then the sooner we can get to recreating the serum and curing Vestal."

Our friend had a point. We knew that if anyone could reproduce the serum, it would Murucho. But he would need time. It would take a while to get the formula correct, on top of the fact that he had to produce enough to give to everyone on Vestal.

Ace tapped his chin with his index finger and told us, "While we were holed up in a bunker, Keith had brought some of his equipment with him. The rest of it will probably be back at his father's old lab in the Palace. Do you think that would do, Murucho?" The short blonde nodded and replied with, "It's as good a start as any."

_Four Years Later…._

_Shun_

"Master Shun!" a voice shouted loudly in my ear, causing me to wake from my sleep. I growled and opened my eyes to find Baron staring at me. "What is it, Baron?" I asked while rubbing the sleep from my eyes. As I sat up from the couch that I had fallen asleep on, the pink-haired boy told me, "Keith and Murucho were wondering if you were going to show up to see the last person on Vestal be cured from the virus."

I yawned and told him, "I guess so. Wouldn't want to miss something important like that." Baron smiled and ran out of the room. Alice, who had been upstairs, poked her head down from the top of the staircase. "What did Baron want?" she asked. I stood up and stretched.

"He was asking if we were going to watch the last person receive the serum today," I told her. It had been this day four years ago that marked the death of Layfair and the beginning of the tedious process of recreating the serum. It had taken Murucho almost a year to find the correct formula for the serum, and the moment he did, we immediately went in search of our infected friends, curing them first.

That alone had taken up a good several months. But once the three Vestals were revived, Keith instantly began helping Murucho mass produce the serum. And as more people were cured, we had more help in producing the cure. Now, only one person on Vestal remained infected.

It was somewhat symbolic that this event would fall on the four year anniversary of Layfair's death. It marked the end of one life, and the beginning of so many more. Alice walked down the staircase and said, "Well, we wouldn't want to miss that. Should we go ahead and start on our way then?"

I shrugged and told her, "If you want to." She nodded and we left out from the house. The streets of Vestal had longed been cleaned up, and buildings were repaired to their former glory. As we walked down the streets, we passed by living people with conscious minds and souls, rather than the monsters they had once been.

When they saw us, friendly smiles were given to us. They knew that we were the reason they were alive now; we were their saviors and they were thankful for our help and acts of bravery. But in our defense, we didn't kill Layfair or do anything of this to become heroes. We did it in order to survive and do what needed to be done.

That was all. Alice and I finally arrived at the Palace, where the last serum would be given. We pushed through the crowd of people that had gathered around to watch as the last piece of evidence of the virus would be erased forever. Alice and I walked up to the stage and joined the others.

Murucho and Keith stood on the sides of the last remaining zombie, a tray with the syringe setting in front of them. Behind them, Dan and Runo stood side by side, then Baron and Julie, and lastly were Mira and Ace. The mint-haired boy had his hand intertwined with Mira's.

I recalled how happy Ace had been when we finally found her and brought her back. Ace had also been the first person that Mira saw when she came back, and since then, the two were almost inseparable. In a way, it reminded me of how Alice and I had been after we fled Earth to escape the virus.

It had brought us closer to each other, and created a bond that nobody else would ever experience. And after the second outbreak, that bond had only strengthened, becoming something that could never be broken. Alice and I walked across the stage and stood beside Runo and Dan.

Murucho turned on the microphone that was clipped onto his shirt. He told the crowd, "Today marks a very special occasion. Not only was justice served to the person that was responsible for creating one of the biggest atrocities in Vestal and human history, but it also marks the day when the last piece of the horrible virus is eradicated forever."

A roar of applause erupted from our audience. Murucho looked to Keith and gave him a single nod. The spiky-haired man nodded back and picked up the syringe that was placed on the tray before them. He then stuck the needle into the arm of the zombie that stood between him and Murucho.

The audience cheered as the serum was plunged into the living corpse's arm. A couple of seconds passed before the zombie dropped to the ground. Slowly, its ashen and rotten skin started to regain its life, and the person that the corpse used to be emerged once more, taking in its new breath of life.

A roaring applause and cheers filled the air as the confused, revived person was carried off stage. The crowd then began to disperse, and I could hear them talking and still cheering. There would be many celebrations that night, even one of our own. We all had gathered that night at the lab where Murucho began to figure out the composition of the serum.

Drinks were passed around, along with sayings of congratulations for achieving the seemingly impossible. As the party died down and we all returned to our respective homes, I couldn't help but marvel at that fact that everything really was back to normal.

True, there would be much internal damage that each of us would carry with us for many years, but we would get through it. We always got through it. Alice and I finally arrived back at our house. After relaxing a bit from the day's events, we decided to turn in for the night.

In the year's passed, there would be countless nights where one of us would wake in the middle of the night, screaming and shaking because our dreams made us relive the horrible events of the outbreak. But those were no more. We knew for a fact that this would never happen again, and because of that, we had no reason to dream of those kinds of things.

And even if we did dream up those nightmares, they scared us no longer. Our fears were gone. Alice rolled over and leaned against me in her sleep, causing me to smile.

It was nice not having to live in fear anymore. It was nice just to live. I closed my eyes and started to drift off to sleep, for I knew no harm would come to us. And for four years straight, I slept peacefully. We all slept peacefully.

* * *

IT'S DONE! IT'S DONE! IT'S DONE! OMG IT'S DONE! XD -runs in happy circles- i can get back to other things! yes! (you all have no idea how happy i am for this). the ending was rather difficult to come up with, but i came up with something and that's how it's gonna stay.** i have also put the youtube link to the song that this whole story is kind of based off of, along with the full story cover**. _**the tie in the poll has also been broke but i still want people to continue to vote**_. read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~


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